CIHM 
Microfiche 
Series 
(IMJonograplis) 


ICMH 

Coilection  de 
microfiches 
(monographies) 


Canadian  Instituta  for  Historical  Mieroraproductlons  /  institut  Canadian  da  microraproductions  Mstoriquas 


I 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes  /  Notes  techniques  et  bibllographlques 


Th«  Instttute  has  attempted  to  obtain  the  best  original 
copy  avaHabie  for  filming.  Features  of  this  copy  which 
may  be  blUiographically  unique,  which  may  alter  any  of 
the  Images  in  the  reproduction,  or  which  may 
significantly  change  the  usual  method  of  filming  are 
checked  below. 

r~Y  CokMirsd  covers  / 
Lj^  Couverturs  de  couleur 

□  Covers  damaged  / 
Couvertura  endommagde 

□  Covers  restored  andfer  laminated  / 
Couverture  restaurde  et/ou  pellicula 

Cover  tiUe  missing  /  Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 

Coloured  maps  /  Cartes  g^raphiques  en  couleur 


ryj  Coloured  inic  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)  / 
LiJ  Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bieue  ou  noire) 

I     I  Cotoured  plates  e  :? 'or  illustrattons  / 


D 

D 
D 


D 


D 


Planches  et/ou  i!)>i$^''  :k)ns  en  couleur 

Bound  with  c'lhoi  lAateriai  / 
Reli6  avec  d'a*.  tic^  iocuments 

Only  editton  available  / 
Seuie  Mitton  disponible 

Tight  binding  may  cause  sh&Jows  or  distortton  along 
interior  margin  /  La  reliure  serrto  peut  causer  de 
i'ombre  ou  de  la  distorsion  le  long  de  la  marge 
intdrieure. 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restorations  may  appear 
within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these  have  been 
omitted  from  filming  /  Use  peut  que  certaines  pages 
blanches  ajout^es  lors  d'une  restauration 
apparaissent  dans  le  texte,  mais,  torsque  cela  6tait 
possible,  ces  pages  n'ont  pas  M  f  ilmtes. 

Addittonal  comments  / 
Commentaires  suppl^mentaires: 


L'Instltut  a  microflimA  le  melllaur  exemplaire  qu'il  lui  a 
M  possible  de  se  procurer.  Les  details  de  cet  exem- 
plaire qui  sont  peut-Atre  unk)ues  du  point  de  vue  bibli- 
ogiaphique,  qui  peuvent  modifier  une  Image  rsprodulte, 
ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une  modlficatton  dana  la  m«tho- 
de  nomfwie  de  fiknage  sont  indktute  ci-dessous. 

I     I  CokHjred  pages/ Pages  de  couleur 

I     I  Pages  damaged/ Pages  endommag^es 

□  Pages  restored  and/or  laminated  / 
Pages  restaurtes  et/ou  pelteuMes 

1^  Pages  discotoured,  stained  or  foxed/ 


Pages  dteotor^es,  tachet^es  ou  pk)utes 
Pages  detached  /  Pages  d^tach^es 


C 

(•    Showthrough/Transpa.^nce 

□  Quality  of  print  varies  / 
Qualit6  In^le  de  I'impresston 


D 
D 


D 


Includes  supplementaiy  material  / 
Comprend  du  materiel  suppl^mentaire 

Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata  slips, 
tissues,  etc..  have  been  refilmed  to  ensure  the  best 
possible  image  /  Les  pages  totaiement  ou 
partiellement  obscurcies  par  un  feulllet  d'errata.  une 
pelure.  etc..  ont  6t6  filmdes  k  nouveau  de  fa^on  k 
otienlT  la  meilleure  Image  possible. 

Opposing  pages  with  varying  colouration  or 
discok)uratk>ns  are  filmed  twk»  to  ensure  the  best 
possible  image  /  Les  pages  s'opposant  ayant  des 
cotorations  variables  ou  des  decolorations  sont 
filmtes  deux  fois  afin  d'obtenir  la  meilleure  image 
possible. 


This  Ham  is  filnwd  at  Um  raduedon  ratie  dMClwd  b«lew  / 

C«  doeummt  Mt  film4  «i  taiix  da  rMuetion  iiMMqut  ei<<lMM«M. 


lOx 


14x 


18x 


12x 


16x 


20x 


22x 


2t 


26x 


30x 


24x 


2tx 


H 


32x 


Th«  eopv  fllmtd  h«rt  hM  b««n  raproducad  thanks 
to  th«  gancrotity  of: 

ItatloMi  Library  of  Canada 

Th«  im«gM  .ppMring  hf  .r.  th.  «»~t,«l"«'JV 
poMibI*  eonsidsring  th«  condition  and  logibiiity 
of  tho  originai  copy  and  In  Icaaping  with  tha 
filming  contract  apacif Icatlona. 

Original  coplaa  In  printad  papar  eowara  ara  fllmad 
baflinning  with  tha  front  covar  and  anding  on 
tha  laat  paga  with  a  printad  or  llhiatratad  Impraa- 
sion.  or  tha  back  covar  whan  appropriata.  All 
othar  original  copiaa  ara  fllmad  baginning  on  tho 
firat  paga  whh  a  printad  or  illuatratad  •""P^- 
•Ion.  and  anding  on  tha  laat  paga  with  a  printad 
or  illuatratad  Impraaaion. 


Tha  laat  racordod  frama  on  aaeh  •"'e'0*'«Jj* 
shall  contain  tha  symbol  -^  (moaning  "CON. 
TINUED").  or  tha  symbol  V  (maaning    END  ). 
whichavar  applias. 

Mapa.  platas.  charts,  ate.  may  ba  fllmad  at 
diffarant  raduction  ratios.  Thosa  too  larga  to  ba 
antiraiy  included  in  ona  axposura  ara  fllmad 
baginning  In  tha  uppar  laft  hand  comar.  laft  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  framas  as 
rsquirad.  Tha  following  diagrams  illustrata  tha 
mathod: 


1  2  3 


1  2 

4  5 


L'axamplair*  film*  fut  rtproduit  gric*  A  la 
O^nArotit*  d«: 

BlbllotM^M  MtfoMi*  *i  CaMda 


Lm  ImagM  sulvantM  ont  «t«  rcproduitM  avae  la 
plua  grand  toin.  compta  tanu  da  la  condition  at 
da  la  nattatt  da  I'axamplaira  film*,  at  tn 
eonformit*  avac  laa  conditiona  du  contrat  da 
filmaga. 

Laa  aKamplairaa  originaux  dont  la  eouvartura  an 
papiar  aat  ImprimAa  sont  film«s  an  eommcn^ant 
par  la  pramiar  plat  at  an  tarminant  toit  par  la 
darrtiAra  paga  qui  eomporta  una  amprairta 
d'Impraaaion  ou  d'illustration.  toit  par  la  sacond 
plat,  talon  la  eat.  Tout  laa  autrat  axamplairat 
originaux  tont  filmte  an  commanfant  par  la 
prami*ra  paga  qui  eomporta  una  amprainta 
dimpraaaion  ou  d'illuttration  at  an  tarminant  par 
la  darni*ra  paga  qui  eomporta  una  talla 
amprainta. 

Un  daa  lymbolaa  luivantt  tpparattra  tur  la 
darniira  imaga  da  chaqua  mieroficha.  salon  la 
eat:  la  tymboia  -» tignifia  "A  SUIVflE".  ta 
tymbola  ▼  tignifia  "FIN". 

Lat  eartaa.  planchat,  tablaaux.  ate.,  pauvant  itra 
filmte  i  dat  taux  da  riduction  diff«rantt. 
Lonqua  la  doeumant  att  trop  grand  pour  Atra 
raproduit  an  un  taul  clich*.  il  att  film*  i  partir 
da  I'angia  tupiriaur  gaucha.  da  gaucha  *  droita. 
at  da  haut  an  bat.  an  pranant  la  nombra 
d'imagaa  n«cattaira.  Lat  diagrammat  suivantt 
illuttrant  la  mithoda. 


2 

3 

5 

6 

««iawcorr  rmxution  tbt  chmt 

(ANSI  and  SO  TEST  CHART  No.  2) 


1.1 


1.25 


lia 

ta 

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m 

■^B 

■■i 

ut 

■  U 

■  2.2 

Ui 

■■■ 

HI 

■B 

U 

itt 

tSm 

mui 

U& 

1.4    1 

ni.6 

j4 


/APPLIED  HVMGE    he 

165J  C<at  Main  SIrMt 

RochMtar,  Hm  York       14609      USA 

(716)  482  -  0300  -  Plwn. 

(716)  268  -  9»e«  -  F<u 


-■*#' 

.:.^*^ 


^ 


N 


PRINCIPLES  AND  METHODS  OP  MUNICIPAL 
ADMINISTRATION 


>i?k^ 


THE  MACMILLAN  OCmr'AllY 
nrvonc  •  wniui  •  cine«ao<  bmum 

AlUkKTA  •  ttm  VauKMW 

MACMILLAN  ft  Ca,  Loan* 

BOMMV  •  CAteOfT* 


THB  MACMILLAN  Oa  OF  CANADA,  Vn. 


PRINCIPLES  AND  METHODS 

OF 

MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


■r 

WILLIAM  BENNETT  MUNRO 

ffBoriMM  Of  mnmarAM.  aoTummr 
w  HABTAaD  mnrwBurt 


THE  MACMILLAN  COIui'ANY 
1916 


^J 


J  49  63 

OOVYIMBT,   IM, 

bt  the  macmuxav  oompamt. 


VmImi* 

J.  ■.  Cuktaf  Oo.  -  B««U  * 

Rorwood,  MiM.,  t7.B.A 


Co. 


1 


4(  wnMtf  fi 
mA  fiMttaf  Illy  te  nrii  vueok 

M  llftwlt  ft  Mint  Ml  ikct  (BMBk" 


PBEPACB 


This  yolmne  deals  with  the  actual  management  of  mn- 
nicipal  business,  especially  in  the  United  States.  It  is 
intended  to  supplement  the  author's  book  on  7^  €hvemr 
ment  of  American  CiUes,  which  was  published  three  years 
ago.  Accordingly,  it  has  to  do  with  functions  rather  than 
with  framework;  its  aim  is  to  show  how  various  city 
departments  are  organized,  what  work  they  have  to  do, 
and  what  problems  they  usually  encounter  in  getting 
things  done. 

The  subject  is  a  large  one,  of  course;  and  much  has 
been  written  about  it  during  the  last  dozen  years.  Nearly 
all  of  these  writings,  however,  fall  into  two  definite  cate- 
gories: either  they  are  general  surveys  of  the  most  ele- 
mentary character,  or  they  are  technical  treatises  which 
cover  in  great  detail  some  single  branch  of  municipal  work 
such  as  street  paving,  water  supply,  or  waste  disposal. 
Between  these  two  extremes  the  present  volume  tries  to 
steer  a  middle  course.  It  does  not  attempt  to  touch  upon 
every  phase  of  city  administration,  yet  the  various  chap- 
ters do  include  a  substantial  part  of  the  entire  field,  aiui 
they  endeavor  to  give  the  reader  something  more  than  a 
mere  glimpse  of  how  the  problems  of  a  modem  city  are 
being  handled  to-day. 

It  is  to  be  remembered,  however,  that  methods  of  mu- 
nicipal administration  differ  so  widely  from  city  to  city 
and  are  so  continually  in  process  of  change  that  general- 
izations are  apt  to  be  faulty  or  misleading.  Tet  a  certain 
amount  of  generaUzing  there  must  be  if  busy  citizens  are 


vU 


•  •• 

vm 


PREFACE 


ever  to  be  shown  in  a  broad  way  just  how  the  city's  affairs 
are  carried  on.  At  any  rate  this  book  approaches  the 
subject  from  the  standpoint  of  one  who  is  interested  in 
municipal  administration  as  a  whole,  and  who  believes 
that  in  all  its  varied  branches  there  are  underlying  ques- 
tions of  poUcy,  principle,  and  method  which  will  never 
be  settled  right  until  public  opinion  is  educated  to  the 
point  of  understanding  them. 

Grateful  acknowledgment  should  be  made  to  many  kind 
friends,  some  of  them  experts  of  national  reputation  in 
their  respective  fields  of  administration,  who  have  read 
the  proof-sheets  of  the  various  chapters  and  have  given 
me  the  benefit  of  their  advice  and  criticism.    For  helpful 
suggestions  given  in  this  way  I  am  indebted  to  my  col- 
leagues. Professors  G.  C.  Whipple,  J.  S.  Pray,  and  H.  W. 
Holmes ;  also  to  Mr.  Frederick  Law  Olmsted  of  Brookline, 
Mr.  John  Nolen  of  Cambridge,  Mr.  G.  W.  Tillson  of 
Brooklyn,  Mr.  Leonard  Metcalf  of  Boston,  Mr.  M.  N. 
Baker  of  New  York,  Mr.  F.  H.  Wentworth  and  Mr.  G.  H. 
McCaffrey  of  Boston,  Mr.  Raymond  Fosdick  of  New  York, 
Professor  Clyde  L.  King  of  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania,  Professor  C.  P.  Huse  of  Boston  University,  and 
various  others.    To  my  good  friend.  Professor  John  A. 
Fan-lie  of  the  University  of  Illinois,  I  owe  particular 
gratitude  for  frank  and  discriminating  criticism,  as  well 
as  for  many  suggestions  that  proved  of  great  value  to 
me.    But  no  responsibility  for  errors  or  omissions  in  this 
book  should  be  laid  at  any  one's  door  but  my  own. 

For  those  who  wish  to  know  more  about  any  of  the 
matters  here  discussed,  the  footnotes  are  intended  to  afford 
guidance.  It  has  not  been  deemed  necessary  to  put  lists 
of  further  references  at  the  end  of  each  chapter  because 
more  useful  bibliographical  apparatus  than  I  could  hope 
to  supply  in  this  way  is  now  within  easy  reach  of  every 
one  interested. 


PREFACE  is 

As  usual,  I  am  considerably  indebted  to  my  loyal  co- 
workers, Mr.  Joseph  Wright,  Miss  Alice  Holden,  and  Miss 
A.  F.  Rowe,  for  help  in  collecting  material,  in  preparing 
the  manuscript  for  tiie  press,  and  in  making  the  index. 

WILLIAM  BENNETT  MUNBO. 

NOTSMUB  17,  UlS. 


CONTBNTS 


L  Thb  QtTMT  voB  EvnonoroT       .....  1 

n.  CiTT  TuLXttaa SO 

UL  STBBm "^^ 

IV.  Watmi  SuppiT 122 

y.  Wabtb  Disposal  and  SswmuoB        ....  187 

VI.  PiTBUO  LlOHTIHG 211 

Vn.  POUCB  AsmHISTSATIOK                           •     .    >         •         •  260 

VUL  Fnut  PsBrmnov  ahd  Fnui  Pbotbotioii  .       .        .  314 

IX.  School  AojomsTBAnow 366 

X  MuKioiPAL  TnrAHCB 403 

INDEX *79 


PRINCIPLES  AKD  METHODS  OP 
MUN^IOIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


CHAPTER  I 

IHB  QUBST  fOR  JtrtlCIBllCr 

Amebican  cities  have  made  more  progress  in  the  direction 
of  clean  and  eMcient  government  within  the  last  ten  years  Rm«t 
than  they  were  able  to  make  during  the  preceding  fifty.  ^^^ 
Throughout  the  1  m  st  half  of  the  nineteenth  century  there 
were  few  of  them  which  could  not  be  likened,  as  was  Dante's 
beloved  Florence  of  six  hundred  years  ago,  to  the  sick  man 
who  could  find  no  rest  upon  his  couch  but  kept  tossing  from 
side  to  side  in  a  fruitless  effort  to  ease  his  pains.  From  one 
political  party  they  turned  to  another,  from  one  mayor  who 
had  proved  capable  but  dishonest  to  another  who  would 
promptly  demonstrate  his  honest  incompetence,  from  com- 
mittees to  commissioners,  from  unpaid  boaids  to  paid 
officials,  from  one  makeshift  to  another,  as  regulariy  as  the 
years  went  by. 

The  annals  of  the  past  decade  tell  a  different  stoiy.  Two 
notable  features  have  marked  municipal  development  during  '^  notafai* 
these  years,  and  another  is  already  well  in  sig^t  upon  the  ***""** 
horizon.  The  first  of  these  is  the  radical  simplification  of 
governing  machinery;  the  second  b  the  progress  of  the 
efficiency  movement,  so  called,  involving  the  use  of  new 
administrative  implements  and  the  adoption  of  improved 
business  methods.  Finally,  the  spread  of  more  accurate 
popular  knowledge  concerning  the  city's  affairs  promises  to 

B  1 


PRINCIPLB8  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


1.  The 

rimpUfied 

ehuter. 


2.  The  ad- 
miniatrative 


be  at  once  the  culmination  of  these  reforms  and  the  guarantee 
for  their  permanence. 

Beginning  with  the  Galveston  experiment  of  1900,  our 
faith  in  municipal  checks  and  balances  has  been  steadily 
breaking  down.  The  remarkable  spread  of  the  conunission 
system  u  a  proof  of  our  shattered  trust  in  an  ancient  formula. 
City  charters  have  been  everywhere  simplified ;  the  frame> 
work  of  city  government  has  been  adapted  to  the  work 
which  a  mimicipality  has  to  do.  The  machinery  of  local 
administration  has  been  made  intelligible,  and  that  is  the 
necessary  first  step  in  any  movement  which  ainui  to  establish 
a  scheme  of  government  genuinely  based  upon  the  advice 
and  consent  of  the  governed.  No  administration  can  ever 
be  truly  responsible  to  the  voter  until  its  structure  and 
powers  are  made  intelligible  to  him.  The  commission 
movement  must  be  credited,  let  it  be  added,  with  far  more 
than  its  direct  and  obvious  results.  To  say  that  it  has 
resulted  in  the  adoption  of  a  particular  type  of  charter 
by  two  or  three  hundred  cities  is  not  to  tell  the  whole  tale. 
The  sahitaiy  reaction  of  the  commission  propaganda  upon 
the  charter  revisions  of  as  many  other  cities  is  something 
which  is  none  the  less  important  althouj^  not  so  generally 
recognized.  The  whole  thing  is  one  of  the  most  inspiring 
developments  of  our  own  generation,  —  this  manifestation  of 
the  self-reliant  way  in  which  a  democracy  can  do  its  own 
surgery  when  the  cankers  become  acute. 

Important  as  all  this  pruning  of  charters  has  been,  how- 
ever, the  results  in  the  way  of  permanently  improved  ad- 
ministration would  be  disappointing  were  it  not  for 
the  accompanying  changes  in  the  actual  tools  and 
methods  of  city  business.  This  whole  group  of  adminis- 
trative alterations  in  mechanism,  methods,  and  personnel, 
in  official  procedure,  in  budget-making  and  accounting,  we 
have  compendiously  designated  by  some  such  phrase  as 
"putting  things  upon  an  efficiency  basis,"  or  "giving  the 
city  a  business  administration."    Our  first  genuine  progress 


TmS  QUWr  FOR  ■moiXNCT 


8 


in  this  direction,  whieh  began  about  1906,  was  actuated 
chiefly  by  a  desire  to  make  the  city  a  more  effective  agency 
of  social  betterment.    The  endeavor  then  made  to  get  certain 
departments  in  the  government  of  New  York  City  upon  a 
footing  where  they  would  measure  up  to  the  standards  of 
private  business  concerns  was  not  prompted  by  a  desire  to 
reduce  expenditures  or  to  decrease  the  city's  tax  rate. 
It  was  inspired  by  a  feeUng  that  public  authority  would 
prove  the  best  coordinating  force  in  any  scheme  of  com- 
munity welfare,  and  indeed  the  only  one  able  to  secure 
adequate  results.    It  was  the  result  of  a  conviction  that, 
so  long  as  the  various  city  departments  were  allowed  to 
pursue  wasteful  and  inefficient  methods  in  conducting  their 
business,  the  community  woiili  continue  to  be  deprived  of 
what  European  countries  have  found  to  be  the  best  means 
erf  getting  a  programme  of  social  welfare  into  operation.* 
Official  leadership,  when  it  can  be  made  efficient,  is  every- 
where the  best  of  aU.    In  a  word,  the  efficiency  movement 
as  appUed  to  the  American  city  had  as  its  starting-point 
the  idea  of  making  the  city  administration  a  logical,  effec- 
tive, and  customary  instrument  for  accomplishing  many 
things  that  civic  organisations,  groups  of  social  workers, 
philanthropists,  and  other  private  agencies  were  trying  to 
bring  about  by  their  well-meaning  but  altogether  inadequate 
efforts. 

The  careful  study  of  city  administration  will  direct  atten- 
tion to  several  things  that  must  be  secured  before  any  wimtM. 
community  can  rest  satisfied  with  the  work  of  its  pubUc  SZTSi 
Officials.    No  one  of  these  essentials  can  be  set  down  as  •*«'"* 
mevitably  more  important  than  the  others :  they  are  inter-  h&tS?' 
lockmg  factors.    No  one  of  them  wiU  of  itself  insure  satis- 
factoiy  municipal  administration ;  but  aU  of  them  combined, 
and  aU  working  in  harmony,  will  do  so  if  anything  can.  M 

The  first  essential  of  efficient  administration  is  intelligent 

^•1I&^!?"'  "*S»««»«y  to  CSty  Govwmnent."  in  Annab  ot  Om 
Ammta^  Amd^ cj POiHad amt Saeial ScUnt^ xK.  3-22  (Shy!l9W). 


I.  Aate- 


2. 
n 


How  fun- 
damental 
itia. 


4  PRINCIPLI8  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINUTRATION 

citisenship.    In  moft  discuMions  of  munieipAl  reform  thii 
is  put  last  in  the  list,  as  if  it  were  merely  a  by-product  of 
charter  overhauling  or  of  changes  in  the  methods  of  munici- 
pal book-keeping.    That  is  getting  at  things  from  the  wrong 
angle  altogether.    We  may  tinker  our  city  charters  and 
shorten  our  ballots  till  the  crack  of  doom  without  wi^Htig 
a  real  democracy  out  of  an  illiterate  populace.    Men  cannot 
register  their  minds  at  the  polls  unless  they  have  minrls  to 
register,  and  the  voter  who  makes  up  his  mind  without  in- 
formation is  no  source  of  strength  or  wisdom  to  any  govern- 
ment.   If  the  people  are  right,  their  charters  and  adminia* 
trative  methods  cannot  be  far  wrong.    On  the  other  hand, 
if  the  masses  of  the  electorate  remain  unguided,  a  prey  of 
prejudice  or  inertia,  the  best  of  charters  will  not  avail    It  is 
all  weU  enough  to  raUy  the  people  round  the  Golden  Rule 
or  the  Ten  Commandments  if  nothing  more  than  the  victory 
of  reform  at  a  single  election  is  planned ;  but  for  persistent 
and  firmly  grounded  success  it  is  necessary  that  a  oitisen 
shall  know  more  than  a  few  platitudes  about  public  affairs. 
It  is  not  by  wrathful  attacks  on  the  sordidness  or  the  parti- 
sanship or  the  unworthy  ideals  of  an  existing  city  government 
that  sound  notions  of  administrative  policy  can  ever  be  nup- 
tured  in  the  hearts  and  minds  of  the  voters.    It  is  rather  by 
positive  action,  by  efforts  to  develop  their  interest  in  those 
common  and  neutral  matters,  those  humdrum  data  of  rou- 
tine civic  life,  — assessment  methods,  paving  blocks,  fire- 
service  platoons,  garbage  incineration,  and  a  long  list  of 
other  such  things,  —  which  the  average  citizen  would  like 
to  know  something  about  and  would  learn  if  he  only  had  a 
fair  opportunity. 

We  are  often  told  that  laws  are  not  worth  much  unless 
public  opinion  is  behind  them,  and  this  doctrine  we  have 
proved  sound  in  practice.  Why,  then,  should  we  be  so  prone 
to  forget  that  a  city  charter  is  nothing  more  or  less  than  a 
law,  subject  to  the  limitations  of  laws  in  general,  and  no  more 
able  to  work  r^eneration  than  any  other  law  is  unless  it 


TM  QUB8T  FOl    IPriCIINOT  5 

ij.  the  ^rou.  .ympathy  of    ho«  wnong  whom  it  i.  «>. 

riti^.!f  **^? .°'  "T*'  toiprovement,  murt  come  from  belo  " 
Without  such  mipulBe  no  improvement  i.  likely  to  be  moro 

nerate  th«r  own  motor  power.    We  have  hearfmuoh  in 

.te  yewi  of  "an  awakened  public  con«aence^Wch  h!i 

.volutionized  the  pubUc  affidr.  of  thi.  dHr  tha^     h^t 

thei«  .udden  awakenin.^  have  not,  as  a  S^"broid»t  ^ 

much  more  than  aAc  a  „/ L fT  ' .  """KOt  ua 


'  much  more  than  a  A^ 
When  popular  wrath  1 
as  suddenly  as  the  awi 
Our  direct  appeal  si 

sciences,  of  dtisens. 

sleep  if  the  eyes  of  tJ 

this  country  nor  elsev 

government  if  they  ki 

matic  that  they  vrUl  t 

about  it.    They  will 

they  win  let  self-confi 

has  been  abundantly    ,   ., 

who  has  his  own  btti^taMg 

affairs  also.    He  mP:  fea- 
to  do  it;    and,  i    Jer  tl 
American  cities,  these  ma%   . 
poorly  without  the  voter'"       1 
such  judgment  as  he  may  foiu. 
cial,  the  result  of  a  vicarioua  y 
that  department  of  the  city 


»ment  by  indignation, 
^pse  has  eome  quite 


iof  gOV*»' 
>si<fed  iht  r> 

je  to  the  he  ds,  nut  to  the  con- 
•ivic  tsi»8ciei    e  wiU  not  go  to  WfcyHfc 
P^  ^fap*  open.    Neither  in  ""*" 
e  wiBpM^  steadSy  endure  mis- 
V  It.    Sut  it  may  Lh  taken  as  axio- 
<iiow      i   left  to  inform  themselves 
t  out  .ui  the  po&  as  if  they  knew: 
nee.  tak.    he  place  of  knowledge.    It 
^  experience  that  the  voter 
will  aot  mind  the  city's 
^  I©  those  who  are  paid 
iditions  that  exist  in  many 
nd  th.   city's  busmess  veiy 
"     ■      h  the  wiser.    Even 
iv  to  be  at  best  superfi- 
nai  contact  with  this  or 
ee  as  he  meets  it.    One 
y  administration  by  the 


ve< 


^  t^  r     •  !"  *"  <"""  '»«P«teieEt,  while  .  tC 


0         PRINCIPIJW  or  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

who  too  often  find  tJuit  •  poUcy  which  can  be  jtwUfied^ 

every  rule  of  lound  buttnew  ftppeus  to  draw  ill-tempered 

oritidsm  from  many  quarters.  ».    .  ,    » 

The  iituation,  however,  is  not  unnaturaL    Mumcipal  re- 

Af.«d.       formers  have  been  dinning  into  our  ears  the  doctrine  that 

SSlSrS?  municipal  administration  in  aU  iU  branches  is  so  highly  tech- 
"    nical  a  matter  that  we  should  intrust  it  always  to  experts  and 

leave  them  alone.  What  does  the  dtisen  know  ^ut 
■treet  paving,  sewage  disposal,  or  fire  prevention?  What 
can  he  expect  to  know  about  these  technical  matters?  Let 
him  accordingly  refrain  from  asserting  his  own  opinions, 
which  arise  from  ignorance,  and  let  him  take  on  faith  the 
opinions  of  those  who  are  qualified  by  education  or  experience 
to  render  them.  Even  men  of  broad  information  in  many 
other  fields,  successful  business  and  professional  men,  are 
inclined  to  talk  as  if  a  professed  confidence  in  the  expert 
quite  justified  a  complacent  ignorance  as  respects  both  prin- 
ciples and  methods  of  public  administration. 

Now,  there  are  several  serious  objections  to  this  atti- 
tude.   In  the  first  place,  it  assumes  that  the  employment 
of  experts  in  city  administration  obviates  the  need  of  edu- 
cating the  electorate  to  a  proper  comprehension  of  its 
administrative  affairs.    In  a  democracy  this  is  a  short-sighted 
and  dangerous  doctrine.    Its  ineviUble  result  is  to  widen  the 
gap  between  the  electorate  and  the  office-holder,  whereas 
all  sound  responsible  government  rests  upon  the  close  linking 
of  pubUc  opinion  with  pubUc  poUcy .    T» '  kinship  of  democ- 
racy is  with  intelligence  and  straight  thinking,  not  with 
ignorance  and  mental  lethargy.    The  citizen  can  no  more 
throw  all  his  civic  responsibilities  upon  experts  than  the 
churchman  can  shift  his  quest  for  salvation  upon  the  clergy. 
Whatever  one  may  hear  to  the  contrary,  it  is  in  fact  far  from 
being  true  that  municipal  administration  has  any  more 
technical  intricacies  than  religion ;  the  greater  part  of  what 
we  call  the  city's  problems  are  well  within  the  grasp  of  the 
ordinary  man  if  he  wiU  only  seek  to  understand  them. 


Too  modi 

vponts- 
pitta. 


Tm  QUBCT  FOR  IFFIOHNOT 


npartiac> 


Teohnioftl  quest  as,  it  if  true,  ftriie  daily  in  neariy  eveiy 
munloipal  department,  but  the  thing*  upon  which  effideney 
depends  can  be  mastered  with  very  little  trouble  by  the  voter 
if  they  are  property  set  before  him. 

By  what  means,  then,  may  the  average  voter  be  brought 
to  a  more  intelligent  understanding  of  how  the  city's  business  g^"»g^ 
is  and  should  be  done?    By  more  publicity,  is  the  answer  ut\» 
one  usually  obtains  to  such  a  question.    But  genuine  civio  *'"'**^' 
publicity  involves  two  things  —  the  compilation  of  facts  and 
the  getting  of  them  into  the  minds  of  the  voters.    The  first 
of  these  two  undertakings  —  getting  the  facts  of  city  ad- 
ministration into  a  form  which  the  average  lasrman  can  graq> 
—  presents  no  difficulty  when  city  departments  have  been 
property  organised  with  modem  systems  of  record-keeping 
and  ace  ""ting.    Few  American  dties,  it  is  true,  have  yet  J^ 
reachci '        tage.    In  the  great  majority  of  them  the  annual  muaidpai 
Tfc;  .  city  departments  represent,  in  large  part,  a  gross 

wac  of  time  and  printing.  No  one  reads  them ;  no  one 
woulu  understand  them  if  he  did.  One  may  often  look  in 
vain  throui^  the  folios  of  a  water  department's  report,  for 
example,  to  find  out  where  the  supply  comes  from  or  what  it 
costs.  I  have  studied  a  street  superintendent's  rqwrt  a 
hundred  pages  long  in  a  fruitless  effort  to  learn  what  his 
dty  was  paying  per  square  yard  for  the  pavements  that  it  was 
putting  down.  The  reorganisation  of  administrative  de- 
partments and  the  reform  of  mxmicipal  accounting,  if  it 
means  anything,  must  surely  bring  to  an  end  this  profitless 
parroting  of  miscellaneous  information  which  informs  no- 
body. Municipal  reports  should  be  concise,  explicit,  and 
easy  to  interpret ;  and  they  should  be  issued  promptly. 

To  bring  the  facts  home  to  the  voter  in  such  way  as  to 
make  him  use  them  as  a  basis  for  forming  an  independent 
opinion  is,  however,  an  undertaking  of  even  greater  difficulty. 
No  distribution  of  municipal  reports  in  their  regular  form  will 
achieve  this  end.  Publicity  pamphlets  which  try  to  give 
voters  the  entire  story  on  the  eve  of  an  election  will  not  do  it. 


2.  Br 

thei 
•Dtation  of 
tmry-iay 
ohriefMti. 


8  PRINCIPLBS  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINIOTRATION 


The  (acta 
have  not 
baen  made 
known. 


The 
das  of 
«itiMn  in- 
fonnation. 


Nor  yet  will  a  stumping  campaign  in  the  days  which  precede 
the  polling.  Education  in  this,  as  in  all  other  fields,  must  be 
a  matter  of  persistent  drilling ;  it  must  take  the  voter  from 
simple  facts  to  the  more  complex ;  it  must  deal  with  him 
patiently.  It  should  adopt  not  one  method  but  many. 
Not  that  the  channels  of  civic  education  are  now  altogether 
too  few;  but  they  are  seldom  coordinated  and  th^  are 
rarely  worked  to  their  full  capacity. 

The  most  serious  indictment  against  the  American  munici- 
pal system  is  not  its  toleration  of  awkward  charters  or  in- 
competent officials,  not  its  use  of  blanket  ballots  or  party 
designations,  not  its  faulty  accounting  or  evasion  of  civil- 
service  rules,  but  its  failure  to  interest  and  instruct  the  people 
in  public  affairs.    Whoever  is  bent  upon  steady  improvement 
in  civic  administration  must  begin  by  recognizing  the  normal 
impulses  and  shortcomings  of  the  ordinary  voter.    He  must 
not  expect  the  electorate  to  get  by  some  royal  road  even  that 
modest  amoimt  of  knowledge  which  is  a  necessary  basis  of 
constructive  citiaenship.    Agencies  of  citizen  inquiry  and 
information  must  be  provided  and  used  to  their  fullest  extent. 
If  we  spent  half  as  much  on  the  instruction  of  the  voter  as 
we  waste  every  year  through  inadequate  fire-prevention 
measures,  there  would  soon  be  an  end  to  the  political  suprem- 
acy of  the  wrong  sort  of  men.    The  vultures  of  city  politics 
are  not  a  bit  afraid  of  the  commission  charter,  the  initiative, 
referendum,  and  recall,  the  direct  primary,  the  preferential 
ballot,  or  any  other  mechanical  reform,  so  long  as  reformers 
keep  hugging  the  delusion  that  they  can  reconstruct  a  govern- 
ment without  taking  the  electorate  into  their  reckoning. 

All  these  things,  however,  are  to  some  extent  agencies  of 
instruction.  If  they  do  not  always  inform  the  voter  they 
at  least  make  earner  the  task  of  informing  him.  The  charter 
campaigns  and  the  frequent  local  referenda  of  recent  years 
have  undoubtedly  made  concrete  for  millions  of  men  and 
women  their  own  real  interest  in  public  matters.  But  none 
of  these  statutory  reforms  cut  deeply  enough  into  the  prob- 


THE  QUEST  FOR  EPFICIENCT 


1.  Tbe 


lem  of  educating  the  citizen.  There  are  other  forces  which 
can  be  brought  to  the  task.  Everything  that  makes  or  popu- 
larizes thought  is  an  available  agency  of  citizen  education. 
First  of  all  is  the  newspaper,  already  the  source  from  which 
most  people  get  the  data  on  which  to  base  their  opinions. 
It  is  not  the  only  source;  however;  and  although  it  is  the 
most  important  one  it  cannot  always  lead  public  opinion  in 
the  wake  of  editorial  opinion,  —  far  from  it.  The  average 
voter  is  not  greatly  influenced  by  the  views  expressed  on  the 
editorial  page ;  but  the  things  that  are  given  to  him  in  the 
news  columns  as  facts  about  city  administration  do  have  a 
large  influence  in  moulding  his  opinions.  It  is  also  quite 
true  that  much  of  what  appears  in  the  news  columns  of  city 
journals  about  the  conduct  of  municipal  business  is  alto- 
gether imtrustworthy  as  a  basis  of  judgment.  This  inexact- 
ness, however,  is  usually  not  the  fault  of  the  newspapers; 
it  happens  chiefly  because  the  real  unvarnished  facts  are  hard 
to  obtain.  The  newspaper  cannot  get  them  because  city 
officials  often  do  not  have  them  to  give.  Reports  by  the 
folio  and  statistical  statements  by  the  ream  are  regularly 
handed  out  by  various  city  departments,  but  most  of  them 
prove  nothing  and  contain  no  gleams  of  enlightezunent ; 
hence  the  news  columns  are  forced  to  present  as  actuality  a 
great  deal  that  is  guesswork  or  gossip.  When  city  reports 
are  made  concise  and  intelligible,  when  official  statonents 
are  boiled  down  to  reasonable  compass  and  issued  authoritar 
tively,  then  the  newspapers  may  fairly  be  depended  upon  to 
bring  the  real  facts  to  the  public  eye.  They  can  be  made 
the  most  potent  force  in  developing  an  efficient  citizenship, 
but  the  city's  accounting  authorities  must  first  do  their 
part. 

Then  there  are  the  civic  and  commercial  oi^anisationB, 
the  labor  unions,  and  the  host  of  similar  agencies  of  public 
discussion.    Chambers  of  commerce,  boards  of  trade,  tax-  manfaa 
payers'    leagues,    local-improvement    associations,  church 
organizations,  clubs  and  groups  of  all  kinds,  exist  in  every 


3.  CMS 
•ad  earn- 


10       PRINCIPLES  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


S.  Centres 
of  investi- 
gation and 
resBMch: 
th«r  two 
types. 


important  city ;  and  in  one  or  another  of  these  bodies  a  con- 
siderable percentage  of  the  whole  electorate  is  enrolled. 
Such  clubs  may  profitably  make  the  discussion  of  municipal 
policy  a  regular  part  of  their  activity ;  indeed,  many  of  them 
do  so  and  have  promoted  the  cause  of  constructive  citizen- 
ship thereby.  It  is  highly  desirable  that  this  work  should 
continue  and  be  developed.  Men  will  sometimes  urge  that 
a  trade  association  or  a  city  club  should  "  keep  out  of  politics" 
and  "avoid  political  entanglements,"  that  it  shotild  con- 
fine itself  to  things  "  within  its  own  sphere."  But  the  proper 
conduct  of  the  city's  business  is  not  in  any  sense  a  political 
question ;  it  is  a  matter  that  directly  affects  every  industrial, 
commercial,  and  betterment  interest  in  the  commtinity. 
The  board  of  trade  that  professes  to  discern  no  relation  be- 
tween local  prosperity  on  the  one  hand  and  sound  methods 
of  revenue-raising,  budget-making,  borrowing,  and  public  ac- 
coimting  on  the  other,  is  probably  too  torpid  as  an  organiza- 
tion to  be  of  much  service  in  any  direction.  Civic  indiffer- 
ence is  the  food  upon  which  misgovemment  always  thrives. 
If  a  live  interest  in  civic  affairs  brings  an  organization  "into 
politics,"  then  civic  and  commercial  bodies  ought  to  be  in 
politics  all  the  time.  The  work  of  these  associations,  if 
vigoroiisly  pursued,  wotild  soon  take  municipal  budness  out 
of  poUtics. 

But  in  addition  to  these  unofficial  organizations  the  voters 
of  every  city  ought  to  have  some  regular  and  authoritative 
disburser  of  municipal  information,  ~  a  working  institution 
whose  sole  duty  is  to  gather  facts  and  present  them  in  cogent 
form  to  city  officials  and  citizens  alike.  One  type  of  such 
agency  is  an  official  board  supported  by  appropriations  from 
the  city  treasury,  like  the  Boston  Finance  Commission.^ 


>  This  oommiarion  waa  wtabliihed  by  the  Boston  charter  amendments  of 
1909  (MoiiaekuteUa  AeU  and  Re$cive;  1909,  eh.  486,  i  17).  It  oomUts 
d  five  memben,  each  appointed  by  the  govenm  of  the  oommonwealth 
for  a  five-year  t«m  »ad  one  retiring  annnaHy.  The  ohairman  rettdvee 
a  salary  of  tSOOO  a  yeu ;  the  other  members  are  unpaid.  The  oommiadon 
ia  aathoriaed  "to  investigate  any  and  aU  matten  relating  to  i^ipropria- 


THE  QUBSfF  FOR  EFFICIENOT 


11 


TheBoitaa 
FiiuuiM 
Co 
ikm. 


tagMof 


This  body  is  empowered  to  employ  experts,  coimsel,  and 
such  other  outside  assistance  as  it  may  deem  necessary. 
Its  findings  are  made  public  through  the  newspapers.  Dup- 
ing the  last  five  years  the  Boston  Finance  Commission  has 
had  a  large  part  in  providing  the  voters  of  the  city  with  the 
real  fucts  of  local  administration. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  are  some  objections  to  this  type 
of  fact-dispensing  agency.  Being  ofilcial  in  its  status  in  that 
it  is  maintained  out  of  public  funds,  it  must  in  some  degree  m^  type, 
at  least  be  imder  public  control,  which  means  that  it  can 
hardly,  by  any  dint  of  effort,  always  keep  itself  quite  dear 
of  politics.  If  its  members  are  appointed  by  t'le  mayor, 
they  are  likely  to  approve  his  poHcy  whether  it  is  right  or 
wrong ;  if  they  are  appointed  by  the  governor,  the  mayor 
will  keep  up  a  running  fight  with  tiiem  if  th^  dare  to  criticise 
any  of  his  acts.  That  is  what  has  happened  in  Boston 
during  the  last  five  years.  The  mayor  and  the  Finance  Com- 
mission have  been  thrusting  at  each  othw  through  the  news- 
papers, each  det^mined  to  have  the  last  word  in  every  con- 
troversy. The  squabbles  have  not  alwajrs  been  instructive, 
although  the  voters  of  Boston  have  certainly  been  taught 
by  these  recurring  clashes  that  there  are  two  sides  to  nearly 
every  municipal  question.  Investigating  commissioners  can 
play  politics  quite  as  well  as  mayors  or  councilmen  can.  It 
is  asking  a  good  deal  of  men  who  draw  salaries  from  the  public 
treasury  to  insist  that  th^  shall  strictly  guard  the  intwests 
of  the  taxpayer  without  giving  political  considerations  any 
weight  whatever,  no  matter  how  powerful  the  latter  may  be. 

The  second  type  of  citizen-informing  agency  is  the  bureau 
of  municipal  research.  The  New  York  Bureau  of  Municipal  yoA  mL 
Research  is  the  oldest  and  most  conspicuous  example.  In 
existence  for  ten  yeurs,  supported  mtirely  by  private  contri- 
tions, louu,  expendituraa,  aeooonU  and  methods  of  »diiiiBiatntioii  alfeet- 
ing  the  City  of  Boston  or  the  County  of  SiiiIolk,arMty  depwtauat  thenof, 
that  may  appear  to  ttie  oommiasion  to  require  iavestii^tion,  and  to  r»- 
port  thweoB  trom  time  to  time  to  the  mayor,  the  tity  eouadl,  the  goveraor 
or  the  goMnl  ooort  (<.«.  the  state  tofislatun]." 


Ttmaot 
Munit^Ml 


It* 

methods 
andnaults. 


12       PRINCIPLB8  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINI8TRATI0N 

butions,  whoUy  independent  of  political  control  or  patronage, 
it  has  had  obvious  advantages  over  any  official  establishmrait. 
Its  income  is  not  dependent  on  the  good  will  of  legislatures 
or  city  councils ;  its  staff  positions  are  not  the  target  of  polit- 
ical arrows;   it  can  offend  with  impunity  if  vigorous  criti- 
cism seems  necessary.    Not  only  has  it  shown  initiative  in 
getting  old  facts  into  new  fonn,  but  as  a  general  pubUcity 
agent  it  has  been  a  notable  success.    It  has  digested  saUent 
facts  and  thrust  them  before  the  voter  in  such  pithy  fonn 
that  he  could  not  fail  to  understand  them.    With  an  annual 
income  which  is  less  than  one  per  cent  of  what  New  York 
City  spends  each  year,  this  organisation  has  managed  to 
show  what  wonders  would  be  accomplished  in  the  way  of 
citiaen  education  if  we  all  went  about  it  in  earnest,  and  de- 
voted to  the  work  the  energy,  interest,  and  fimds  that  it 
ought  to  have.    The  need  of  such  an  agency  in  every  Ameri- 
can city  is  not  only  great  but  continuing,  a  need  that  can  be 
met  by  no  short-lived  institution  dependent  for  its  exbtence 
on  spasmodic  contributions.    The  problem,  accordingly,  is 
to  combine  the  initiative  and  independence  of  a  private 
institution  with  the  stability  which  comes  from  an  assured 

existence. 
These  centres  of  citizen  information,  official  and  private. 
What  theM  have  rendered  great  service  to  the  cause  of  civic  education 
'-       (juring  the  past  ten  years.    They  have  hammered  it  into  the 
voter's  ears  that  the  city's  business  is  his  business,  and  they 
have  managed  to  make  him  listen.    The  result  is  shown  in 
the  current  disposition  to  accord  public  officials  a  fairer 
judgment.    A  generation  ago  the  head  of  a  city  departmnit, 
one  may  almost  say,  had  all  presumptions  against  him. 
People  were  disposed  to  consider  him  inefficient  and  corrupt 
until  he  completely  convinced  them  to  the  contrary,  —  a 
cynical  attitude  that  discouraged  good  work.    Now  we  have 
begun  to  realize  that,  to  be  a  real  foree  in  local  government, 
public  opinion  must  itself  be  intdligent,  fair,  and  construc- 
tive.   It  must  be  intelligent,  however,  before  it  can  take  on 


hsveao- 
oompUihed. 


THE  QUEST  FOR  EFFICIENCT 


13 


iiMiitaf 
pofMilar 
inttmotiin* 


the  other  two  qualities,  and  it  will  not  be  intelligent  unless 
there  is  proper  m&chineiy  for  keeping  it  accurately  informed 
of  what  is  going  on.  Of  all  false  democracy's  assumptions 
there  is  none  more  pernicious  than  the  one  which  takes  it  for 
granted  that  public  opinicn  will  crystallize  and  exert  itself 
in  the  right  direction  without  leadership,  information,  or 
active  encouragement.  W  thout  intelligence  public  opinion 
will  be  no  more  influential  in  the  long  run  than  any  other 
agency  of  ignorance. 

One  of  the  best  appliances  for  visualizing  the  city's  prob- 
lems to  the  small  taxpayer  is  the  budget  exhibit,  or  mtmici-  ^Sm?^ 
pal  exposition.  The  firet  experiment  of  this  sort  was  tried 
in  New  York  six  years  ago ;  since  that  time  budget  exhibits 
have  been  held  in  a  score  of  American  cities.  The  under- 
taking consists  in  securing  a  large  hall,  centrally  located,  and 
arranging  in  it  side  by  side  a  display  that  will  illustrate 
as  concretely  as  possible  the  work  which  each  municipal 
department  has  to  do.  Charts  and  diagrams,  lantern  views, 
moving  pictures,  samples  of  equipment,  materials  and  sup- 
plies used  in  different  branches  of  the  city's  service,  illus- 
trated lectures  every  afternoon  and  evening,  —  all  these 
instrumentalities  of  popular  instruction  are  employed. 
It  is  an  exhibit  of  the  city's  working  machinery,  of  its  raw 
materials  and  its  finished  products.  It  aims  \o  show  the 
citizen  where  his  taxes  go  and  what  he  gets  for  them.  The 
idea  is  to  have  the  city  official  bring  home  to  the  people  some 
adequate  notion  of  the  work  that  he  is  doing  and  the  need 
of  providing  more  money  in  the  budget  for  doing  it. 

The  achievements  of  these  various  agencies  have  shown 
how  much  can  be  done  by  organized  effort  in  the  way  of 
informing  the  voter  and  giving  him  a  better  basis  for  judging 
the  work  of  those  who,  in  pubUc  office,  are  responsible  to 
him.  Although  no  one  of  these  forces  has  exhausted  a  titiie 
of  its  possibilities,  they  have  accomplished  enou^  to  prove 
that  we  can  render  citizenship  more  efficient  when  we  go 
about  it  in  the  right  way.    There  is  hardly  a  technical  matter 


14       PRINCtFLES  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINI8T1ULTI0N 


The  expert 
in  his  proper 
place. 


in  any  d^artment  of  mumcipal  administration  that  caunot 
be  made  clear  to  the  average  mind  by  the  use  of  ordinary 
language.  There  is  scarcely  any  problem  of  real  importance 
in  the  conduct  of  the  city's  business  that  nine  voters  out  of 
ten  would  not  grasp  intelligently,  at  least  in  its  broader  bear- 
ings, if  it  were  properiy  laid  before  them.  Let  it  be  repeated 
that  we  are  in  the  habit  of  putting  too  much  stress  on  the 
professional  aspects  of  public  service.  This  attitude  is  not 
necessary,  nor  is  it  prudent.  It  is  not  prudent  because  the 
voters  of  a  democracy  will  not  begin  with  a  postulate  of  their 
own  incompetence ;  they  never  have  done  so,  and  it  is  not  in 
keeping  with  the  very  essence  of  democracy  that  they  should 
be  asked  to  do  so.  A  city  with  experts  at  the  head  of  its 
departments  but  without  an  intelligent  electorate  is  like  a 
motor  car  with  a  skilled  driver  but  without  a  carburetor: 
it  will  run  smoothly  enough  on  a  down  grade,  but  it  has  no 
motive  power  with  which  to  climb  the  hiUs.  The  expert 
can  solve  no  difficult  problems  without  steadfast  popular 
support.  The  chief  merit  of  free  government  is  not  the 
efficiency  which  it  procures  at  the  apex  of  the  administrative 
pyramid ;  it  is  the  initiative  and  intelligence  which  it  de- 
velops at  the  base.  The  assumption  of  an  enduring  and 
inevitable  popular  ignorance  is  the  very  negation  of  demo- 
cratic government. 

All  this,  it  should  be  understood,  is  not  intended  to  be  an 
argument  against  the  use  of  experts  in  mimicipal  administra- 
tion. It  is  merely  a  protest  against  that  attitude  of  mind 
which  puts  the  expert  first  and  the  citizen  last  in  any  pro- 
gramme of  real  municipal  reform.  That  is  not  the  way  in 
which  we  try  to  get  results  in  other  spheres  of  community  life. 
How  have  we  developed  the  Anglo-Saxon's  prowess  in  out-of- 
door  sports,  for  example,  —  by  professionalizing  athletics, 
or  by  urging  every  one  to  learn  something  about  the  game? 
The  professional,  both  in  games  and  in  government,  is  all 
right  in  his  proper  place,  but  he  serves  no  very  useful  purpose 
unless  his  work  has  a  wholesome  reaction  on  the  amateur. 


THE  QUEST  FOR  EFFIOUENCT 


16 


nWDHMlllOl 

meehaa- 


Another  essential  of  e£Scient  municipal  administration,  ^^'^ 
but  second  in  point  of  importance,  is  a  simple  but  effective 
political  framework,  in  other  words  a  good  city  charter.  Not 
all  of  our  civic  trouble  in  past  yean  has  been  due  to  ill-fitting 
organic  laws,  to  be  sure,  but  cumbrous  political  machineiy 
has  accounted  for  much  of  it.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  futile 
to  expect  that  a  well-framed  city  charter  or  any  other  inani- 
mate object  will  ever  prove  an  automatic  dispenser  of  civic 
blessedness.  From  one  extreme  reformers  are  prone  to  rush 
to  another.  Twenty-five  years  ago  it  was  a  commonplace 
that  the  syatem  of  government  mattered  little,  —  that  the 
personnel  sdone  counted  for  much.  Men  of  undoubted  sense 
and  sincerity  were  firmly  convinced  that  any  form  of  charter  ^H^^^l 
would  give  good  results  if  only  the  right  type  of  office-holder 
were  set  to  administer  its  provisions.'  Then  they  wondered 
why  it  was  that,  when  the  right  sort  of  mayor  happ^ed  to 
be  dected  on  the  wave  of  popular  indignation,  he  rarely 
managed  to  start  any  real  revolution  in  the  city's  methods 
of  doing  business.  That  was  the  experience  of  many  cities 
during  the  last  three  decades  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and 
the  reason  was  plain :  even  the  best  officials,  when  hampered 
by  checks  and  balances  ad  natueam  could  accomplish  few 
reforms  worth  while.  The  automatic  political  devices 
which  had  been  created  to  keep  rogues  from  doing  harm  wexe 
equally  efficient  in  keeping  reformers  from  doing  good. 

In  the  course  of  time  people  woke  up  to  this  situation. 
They  came  to  realize  that  the  reform  of  mimicipal  methods 
could  never  be  achieved  by  campaigns  that  undertook  merely 
to  demonstrate  the  superior  righteousness  and  ability  of  one 
ticket  over  another.  The  reform  of  laws  and  ordinances  sot 
then  drew  public  attention,  and  before  long  the  forces  of 
civic  reconstruction  were  heading  full  tilt  toward  that  «t- 
treme.  The  city  charter  suddenly  found  itself  the  theme  of 
warm  controver^r.    Given  a  proper  charter,  the  reformers 

'  See  (he  renuMrk  of  the  Hon.  Cari  Bohuix,  quoted  in  \.ho  autiior's  <?o*em- 
mmt  tf  American  CitUt  (New  T(»rk,  1912).  p.  378,  note. 


Aaotbar 
falw 


nteehan- 

ilBMMMl 


16        PRINCIPLES  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


VMm 
maehiiMry 


began  to  tdl  us,  everything  else  would  take  care  of  itself, — 
methods,  men,  and  results.  The  new  alchemy  soon  gathered 
a  large  corps  of  disciples,  any  one  of  whom  could  prescribe 
with  a  few  strokes  of  his  pen  a  statutory  nostrum  for  all 
municipal  ailments.  They  are  still  having  their  day  among 
us,  although  there  are  signs  that  it  is  drawing  to  a  close. 

A  campaign  for  civic  improvement  which  stops  short  when 
it  has  gained  home  rule  for  a  city,  or  established  a  commission 
charter,  or  shortened  the  ballot,  is  likely  to  effect  results  of 
no  greater  permanency  than  does  one  which  ceases  fire  when 
it  has  merely  changed  the  personnel  of  city  government. 
Neither  of  these  achievements,  good  as  it  may  be  in  itself, 
will  carry  a  municipality  the  whole  way,  and  even  together 
th^  make  up  a  veiy  incomplete  programme  of  permanent 
reform. 

Now,  all  this  is  not  to  be  construed  as  disi«garding  the 
great  importance  of  possessing  a  sensible,  smooth-working 
»«,«.«-  charter,  or  as  questioning  the  desirability  of  having  the 
MiteaU-im-  charter  provisions  carried  out  by  honest  and  capable  moL 
*****"**  It  is  merely  to  insist  that  these  two  things  are  not  enouc^. 
Neither  charter  nor  men  are  on  a  solid  foundation  so  long  as 
the  great  body  of  citizens  are  treated  as  pawns  in  the  game 
and  left  without  vigorous  and  continuing  agencies  of  political 
education.  When  the  charter  is  unwieldy,  when  it  diffiises 
responsibility,  or  when  its  provisions  are  too  intricate  for 
the  ordinary  voter  to  understand,  the  obstacles  in  the  way  of 
intelli.;ent  citizenship  are  very  serious.  Charter  reform  is, 
therefore,  an  important  step  in  facilitating  the  voter's 
acquaintance  with  the  facts  of  public  business ;  but  it  is  not 
a  final  step,  and,  as  the  experience  of  many  American  cities 
during  the  past  ten  years  has  shown,  it  is  a  very  inadequate 
one. 

The  purpose  of  a  city  charter  is  not  merely  to  restrain 
mismanagement  or  corruption,  although  a  great  many  such 
docimients,  old  and  new,  seem  to  have  been  drawn  with  that 
end  almost  wholly  in  mind.    A  charter  is  first  of  all  an  in- 


Whktiift 
dty  ofauter, 
uurwayr 


THS  QUm*  FOR  ranonNOT 


17 


itrument  for  permitting  and  encouraging  the  free  exerdae  of 
that  large  amount  of  power  which  in  every  efficient  scheme  of 
self-govemment  must  be  exercised  by  somebody.  We  have 
been  proceeding  on  the  paradoxical  principle  that  the  people 
may  be  freely  trusted  to  choose  their  mayors  or  commis- 
sioners, and  yet  that  these  office-holders  will  surely  abuse 
their  powers  and  betray  their  trusts  if  they  get  the  chance. 
We  have  given  the  forms  of  power  to  the  electorate,  but  have 
kept  our  trust  in  the  restrictive  safeguards  of  constitutions 
and  charters.  It  is  only  of  late  years  that  we  have  come  to 
realize  the  absurdity  of  thus  taking  away  with  one  hand  what 
we  have  just  given  with  the  other. 

The  first  requirement  of  a  good  city  charter  is  that  it  shall 
convey  ample  powers  and  shall  leave  th«n  to  be  ocerdsed  ^y»- 
without  undue  check  from  intricate  and  uncertain  legal  re- 
strictions. Direct  responsibility  to  an  informed  electorate 
is  by  all  means  the  surest  safeguard  against  abuse  of  powers 
by  public  officials ;  but  it  will  not  do  for  a  city  to  assume  that 
it  can  secure  this  guarantee  by  working  from  the  top  down- 
ward, —  as,  for  example,  by  merely  taking  party  designar 
tions  off  the  mxmidpal  ballot  or  by  making  officials  subject 
to  recall.  Beal  accountability  requires  that  positive  provi- 
sion shall  be  made  for  bringing  the  whole  body  of  the  elector- 
ate into  touch  with  what  is  going  on  at  tho  dty  hall  through 
the  agencies  which  have  just  been  described. 

If  these  things  are  kept  well  in  mind,  the  particular  type  of 
charter  which  a  city  adopts  is  not  a  matter  worth  prolonged  ^J^ 
controversy.    Adequate  power  with  full  and  direct  account-  ioeik»i»ttm. 
ability  can  be  lodged  in  a  few  hands  imder  the  responsible  ^*^ 
executive  type  of  charter  quite  as  well  as  under  the  com-  eatut 
mission  or  dty-manager  plans.^    Which  of  these  charter 
schemes  a  city  should  adopt  is  a  question  that  may  best  be 


dOMDOt 


>Fot  diaoiMknit  of  tbewvariowitypei.  leeNftUiui  MktUwwi,  MvhU- 
ipoJ  Charters  (Camlwidge,  1914);  H.  G.  Jmbss,  Applied  CU9  Omernmrna 
(New  York,  1914);  and  the  new  Municipal  Profram  oT  the  N»tk»al 
Munioipia  Leagne,  to  be  poUiihed  in  1916. 


18       PRINCIPLI8  or  MX7NI0IPAL  ADMINnTRATION 


m.A 


intmal 
•dminiiti*- 
tiveorguii- 
Mtion. 


Mttled  by  ref ertnee  to  local  environmenti  needs,  and  tnuU- 
tions.'    With  such  enonnous  differences  among  American 
cities  in  matters  of  population,  social  toiture,  and  economic 
probler    '  would  be  very  strange  if  any  one  organic  statute 
should  equally  meet  the  requirements  of  alL    Too  mudi 
emphasis  is  neariy  evmywhere  laid  upon  the  quertion  of  geof 
eraltype.    Energies  that  might  be  devoted  to  better  purpose 
are  often  frittered  away  in  controversies  over  the  relative 
merits  of  this  or  that  general  form  of  charter  and  the  political 
machinery  which  it  provides.    Far  more  depends  upon  the 
skill,  care,  and  judgment  with  which  the  various  provisions 
of  a  charter  are  drawn  than  upon  the  particular  type  of  city 
government  that  it  establishes.    And  this  is  espedally  true 
of  the  administrative  provisions,  —  those  which  deal  with  the 
control  and  organisation  of  tiie  several  working  departments 
and  their  rdations  to  one  another,  with  appointments  and 
removals,  with  contracts  and  the  purchase  of  supplies,  with 
budget-making  and  audits,  and  with  the  whole  field  of  muni<^ 
ipal  finance.    These  are  the  provisions  that  make  possible 
the  next  essential  of  continiiing  efficiency  in  city  government. 
In  the  third  place,  a  wdl-govemed  city  should  have  an 
efficient  internal  ad  i  Jiistrative  organization.    This  godsend 
no  charter  can  assure,  though  it  can  do  much,  if  its  adminis- 
trative provisions  are  properly  framed,  to  make  good  resulta 
possible.    To  establish  an  elective  commission  or  a  dty 
manager  is  not  in  itself  enough  to  guarantee  that  the  city's 
business  will  be  conducted  properly,  although  many  persons 
seem  to  have  imagined  so.    Proper  administrative  machinery 
must  be  created  by  charter  or  by  ordinance  or  by  r^ulations 
adopted  within  the  various  departments,  or  by  all  three  of 
these  methods.    The  mechanism  must  be  flexible  oiough 
to  meet  changed  conditions  and  new  problems  constantly; 

>  The  MMHushuntta  kciUatun  hu  adopted  this  doctrine  by  Uyioff 
(town  unifinnn  rales  in  matters  of  adminiatntion  and  llnanee  f or  aO  the 
dtiea  of  the  oommonwealth,  but  leaving  to  individual  muniwiiwlitiwi  the 
rig^t  to  adopt  any  one  of  four  preeoribed  type*  of  pditieal  tnanswatk. 
See  MoMtaehMtUa  Aet$  and  JtMetvM,  1016,  eh.  907. 


TBI  QUMn  FOB  imOIBNGT 


19 


at  the  Mune  time  it  must  be  finn  enou^  to  insure  •  raMOiuble 

[mesmure  of  stability.    Municipal  functions  fall  into  many 

Igroups,  all  more  or  less  diverse  in  their  nature  and  yet  all 

omehow  related.    Take,  for  examjde,  the  case  of  polfce  and 

health  administration :  the  work  of  these  two  departments 

can  scarcely  be  termed  nmilar  in  any  important  respect, 

^et  efficiency  demands  that  their  work  shall  be  done  in  har* 

sy.    The  rules  made  by  one  depend  for  their  usefulness 
[on  the  inspections  made  by  the  other.    So  with  the  watw 
and   fire  departments.    A  smooth  administrative  organi- 
sation accordingly  requires,  first,  a  proper  functional  division 
of  work,  and,  second,  ample  lines  of  oodrdination  joining 
[these  various  divisions  to  one  anothor. 

Here  is  where  much  waste  has  been  caused  in  the  iMst 

I  We  have  emphasised  the  need  of  division  of  labor  too  strongly,  ^,^^,,^ 

land  in  many  cities  have  divided  and  subdivided  departments  toomMv 

[to  an  unprofitable  degree.    Boston,  for  example,  has  more  j^,^^"^ 

than  thirty  departmaits  of  mimidpal  administration,  at* 

though  by  no  process  of  sound  reasoning  can  one  evolve  a 

list  of  tUrty  distinct  general  functions  to  be  performed. 

The  result  has  been  top>heaviness  in  the  administrative 

[service,  with  a  good  ded  of  friction,  overlapping,  and  inr* 

[competence.    Other  cities  have  had  the  same  experience. 

recent  years,  however,  the  reaction  against  this  undue 
[mul  iplication  of  departments  has  tended  to  carry  us  too  far 
[in  the  other  direction.    By  adopting  the  commission  jdan 
[of  government,  for  instance,  cities  have  telescoped  tiieir 
[departments  into  five,  —  a  poUey  defoudble  enou^  in 
smaller  municipalities,   but   objectionable  in  the  larger 
centres  because  it  often  involves  the  messing  of  functions 
that  have  scarcely  any  rdationship.    ^ce  tiie  comminion  2*^P" 
[plan  provides  oi^y  five  departments,  everything  must  be  orwt- 
I  crowded  into  these  five,  even  if  it  means  that  the  compilation  ^"^''^ 
[of  vital   statistics  and  the  care  of  cemeteries  must  rub 
[shoulders  in  an  incongruous  department  of  public  improve- 
ments.   In  Galveston,  the  parent  eommissicm  dty,  for 


aO       PRINCIPLBt  or  MUNICIPAL  ADMINUTRATION 


kwingtoe 


Bowtte 

munlMr  of 
oMgrdapvi- 

dMttldlM 


«x«mplo,  the  departmoit  of  itreeto  mi  public  improre- 
mentf  has  charge  of  highwaya,  hospitals,  health,  and  ceme- 
teries. "Mj  duties,"  the  eommisaioner  in  charge  of  this 
dq>artment  once  ronariced,  "begin  at  births  and  end  at 
burials."  The  eoncentration-of-power  idea  may  be  sound 
CDoui^,  but  surdy  thb  is  overworking  it. 

It  may  properly  be  asked  whether  we  are  not  in  serious 
danger  of  making  administ»tive  concmtration  a  supersti- 
tion. When  a  department  includes  several  dirtinet  typea 
of  civic  activity,  some  much  more  important  than  others, 
it  is  altogether  likely  to  be  organised  with  reference  to  the 
dominating  branches  of  its  work.  And,  when  a  department 
is  organised  with  a  view  chiefly  to  the  efficient  performance 
of  its  principal  functions,  there  is  the  patent  likelihood 
that  the  minor  branches  of  its  work  will  get  a  deficient  share 
of  attention.  A  sin^e-headed  department  of  public  safety 
may  rq[>resent  the  most  suitable  form  of  on^nisation  for 
the  control  of  the  police  and  fire-protection  services;  but 
it  does  not  follow  that  it  is  also  the  best  type  for  granting 
licenses  or  for  administering  the  health  regulations.  There 
is  still  a  good  deal  to  be  said  for  the  old  style  licensing  boards 
and  boards  of  health.  Oveissoncentration  of  adminia* 
trative  responsibility  surely  has  its  objections,  even  thou|^ 
they  may  not  be  so  obvious  or  so  pronounced  as  those  which 
mark  an  undue  scattering  of  functions. 

It  is  desirable,  therefore,  that  in  determining  the  proper 
mmiber  of  municipal  departs  nts  we  should  begin  with  the 
functions  and  see  how  far  we  can  group  them  without 
endangering  their  free  and  propo*  exBtaae.  There  is  ia 
every  large  city  a  legion  of  these  public  functions,  —  clerical, 
legal,  financial,  penal,  social,  and  so  on,  —  all  falling  readiljr 
into  related  groups ;  perhaps  in  a  large  city  there  will  be 
fifteen  or  twenty  such  groups.  Then  comes  the  problem  d 
reducing  this  number  by  further  amalgamations.  Here  it  it 
well  to  remember  that  consolidation  is  not  necessarily  a 
lynonym  for  efficiency  in  administrative  mechanism,  oi 


TBI  QtJIVr  FOR  IfFlOUNCT  •* 

ytt  for  accentuated  diwctMM  of  wipoMlWUty.    Refonnere 
•ometiiiMt  cpeftk  m  if  the  merit  of  a  dty't  adminktimtive 
gyitem  mii^t  be  gauged  by  tbe  imaU  number  of  adminiatrap 
tive  departmenta  that  it  haa  eaUbliAed.    They  point 
MomfuUy  to  any  dty  that  haa  more  than  five  aa  being  lelf-con- 
victed.    Nothing,  however,  could  be  more  unfair  or  abwird. 
We  know  that  aueoearful  private  budnevi  concema,  with 
activitiee  mudi  leai  varied  and  much  more  cireumsoribed 
than  thoae  of  a  large  dty,  often  find  it  dedraUe  to  have  more 
than  five  adminiitrative  departmenta.    The  munidpality 
which  aeeka  to  put  ita  administration  on  a  budneia  bads 
must  face  similar  problems  in  a  similar  way.    It  must  de- 
termine its  departmental  organisation  by  adjusting  the  num- 
ber of  departments  to  the  number  of  rdated  functiona,  and 
not  by  crowding  unrdated  functions  into  the  same  depart- 
ment because  of  any  formula  that  allows  only  so  many 
dividons  in  whidi  to  put  than  alL 

It  is  hme  that  the  analogy  of  any  successful  business  con- 
cern will  prove  instructive.  A  great  railroad,  for  .-Ample, 
has  functions  of  a  widdy  varying  character  to  rform,  _^^^ 
quite  as  many,  perhapa,  aa  most  munidpaUties.  There  are  ^ 
financial  functimia,  sudi  as  borrowing,  rate-making,  auditing, 
and  disbursing.  There  is  legal  work  to  do,  a  great  deal  of 
it.  There  are  problema  of  engineering,  of  construction, 
and  of  maintenance  to  be  met  continually.  The  purchasing 
of  supplies,  the  awarding  of  contracts,  the  handling  of  large 
bodies  of  employees,  the  matter  of  appointments,  promotions, 
discipline,  pouuons,  —  a  raihroad  must  provide  administrar 
tive  machinery  for  all  these  things.  How  many  departments, 
dividons,  and  bureaus  does  it  find  necessary  or  desirable  T 
Rardy  fewer  than  dght  or  ten,  and  often  more ;  but  at  least 
thisnumborof  distinctfunctionalgroupshastobeprovidedfor. 
A  large  dty  would  seem  to  need  quite  as  many  administrative 
departments,  and  it  is  better  policy  to  provide  them  than  to 
crowd  official  duties  into  oomeis  wh«e  thqrmay  be  n^ected. 
But  what6v«  the  number  of  dqpartmenta  as  finally  de- 


The  need  of 
oofipention 
among  de- 
partmenta. 


Making  an 
adminUtra- 
tivewrv^. 


22       PRINCIPLEa  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

tennined,  whether  five,  seven,  nine,  or  eleven,  it  is  important 
that  each  shall  have  its  fair  measure  of  freedom  and  yet  be 
joined  by  clear  lines  of  coordination  with  the  others.  It  is 
to  be  regretted  that  the  tendency  of  city  charters  to  put 
more  stress  on  freedom  m  departmental  organization  than 
upon  cooperation  >.?.»  fostered  an  unfortunate  amount  of 
petty  jealousy  :.mong  those  in  charge  of  the  various  divisions 
of  the  city's  affairs.  There  is  need  for  more  team  play, 
more  recognit  on  of  the  fact  that  no  important  mimicipal 
problem  concoiuo  a.  drg'e  department  only,  that  the  coordi- 
nation of  effort  should  be  the  normal  and  not  the  casual 
policy  among  higher  officials.  The  city-planning  board, 
as  will  be  indicated  in  a  later  chapter,  may  be  made  an  in- 
fluential factor  in  this  direction.^ 

One  of  the  preUminaries  in  any  effort  to  reorganize  a  city's 
methods  of  doing  routine  business  is,  of  course,  a  careful  study 
of  the  existing  machinery.  The  first  step  in  this  procedure 
is  the  making  of  an  administrative  survey,  or  invoitory, 
of  what  the  city  akeady  possesses  in  the  way  of  mechanism 
and  powers  for  carrying  on  its  affairs.  The  results  are  then 
set  forth  on  a  chart  which,  if  properly  prepared,  will  dis- 
close at  a  glance  where  the  or^mic  shortcomings  happen  to 
be.'  Departments  that  have  either  too  much  or  too  little 
to  do  will  show  such  anomalies  when  their  powers  and  duties 
are  scheduled  in  parallel  columns.  Conflicts  of  authority, 
the  limiping  of  incongruous  functions  into  the  same  departr 
ment,  the  presence  of  powers  which  exist  but  which  have 
remained  unused,  lines  of  responabiUty  that  fail  to  converge, 
—  these  are  features  sure  to  be  disclosed  by  an  administrative 
survey  of  any  city  which  has  not  already  carried  throu|^  a 
programme  of  business  reorganization.' 

«Below,  pp.  43-45  ,     ^       ,      . 

*Cluurt8  ol  munidpal  ■dminiatratiTe  orgMumtioB,  for  porpoiM  or 
oompuiKO,  Qwy  be  eonvoiientiy  fomid  in  Henry  Antra's  N«m  CUt 
Government  (New  York.  1912),  paetim. 

*  Soeh  tamyt  have  been  made  for  Mvend  eitlaa  by  the  NewTork 
Bweu  a<  Muaidpal  ReseHvh.    One  oltketetMtaadbert  it  tfait  drafted 


mM 


THE  QUB8T  FOR  BFWOIENCY 


28 


There  is  no  model  scheme  of  departmental  organiaation 
that  fits  the  varied  needs  of  aU  American  cities.  To  main- 
tain the  contrary  is  to  overtook  entirely  the  fact  that  an 
amount  of  reasonable  flexibiUty  is  as  necessary  to  the  smooth 
working  of  public  business  as  of  private.  K,  however,  cer- 
tain general  principles  are  followed,  the  details  will  not  much 
matter.  No  city  is  Ukely  to  suffer  seriously  because  it  pre- 
fers seven  departments  to  five,  or  because  its  distribution 
of  functions  does   not  exactly  conform   to   that   of  its 

neighbor. 

These  main  principles  may  be  briefly  set  forth.  In  the 
first  place,  administrative  functions  that  are  substantially 
similar  in  nature  ought  to  be  grouped  in  the  same  department. 
In  determining  whether  functions  are  or  are  not  substantially 
alike  the  best  plan  is  to  hold  prominently  in  mind  the  prob- 
lems chiefly  encountered  in  performing  them.  Some  public 
functions  bring  mainly  problMns  of  engineering  and  construc- 
tion, others  problems  of  finance,  others  problems  of  personal 
supervision  and  maintenance.  Now  and  then,  it  is  true,  we 
come  upon  debatable  ground.  Whether  playgrounds  should 
be  within  the  purview  of  the  park  department  or  of  the  school 
department,  for  example,  depends  chiefly  upon  whether 
a  playground  is  regarded  as  primarily  an  agency  of  recrea- 
tion or  of  instruction.  The  tendency  to-day  is  to  place  it  in 
the  latter  category.  It  will  be  found,  moreover,  that  some 
one  department  may  have  to  do  a  particular  form  of  work 
for  all  the  others.  Take  the  law  department,  for  instance. 
Every  city  department  has  need  of  legal  service  from  time 
to  time,  and  yet  it  would  be  a  wasteful  plan  to  provide  each 
with  its  own  counsel.  Again,  all  or  nearly  all  departments 
need  plans  and  specifications  for  their  work ;  yet  each  de- 
partmoit  can  hardly  be  provided  with  its  own  enginewing 

for  ToroBto,  CMMdft.  Ths  f«mlta  an  pnldiahed  ondar  tin  titie  of  Bafirt 
OH  a  Svnen  nf  A$  Tnatvnf,  Auemmna,  Work»,Fin,mdPr9rm*9  '^^'^ 
menfo,  prapAKd  tfst  tliA  CSvio  Survuy  Conuuittoo  rf  TotOBto  1^  Vab  xv0W 
Toric  Bniwm  a(  Munioip*!  RMwnh  (1918). 


No  modal 
■ebameof 
intenulad- 
miniatntUiM 


Some 
eralprin- 


I.  WbOm 

funetioBi 

dwuldbefai 

pMtmwt. 


TlieqttM- 

tionof 

tnipuiw 


24       PRINCIPLES  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

bureau.  It  is  best,  in  cities  of  smaU  or  medium  aie,  to 
commit  the  work  entirely  to  the  city  engineer,  leaving  each 
department  to  caU  upon  his  office  for  whatever  it  needs. 

A  more  perplexing  question  is  connected  with  the  whole 
matter  of  city  purchasing.    Every  city  department  needs 
large  quantities  of  suppUes.    To  some  extent  aU  of  them  use 
things  of  the    "me  general  sort;  yet  each,  on  the  other 
hand,  has  its  own  special  requirements.    The  poUce,  fire, 
and  school  departments,  for  example,  require  the  same  kind 
of  fuel  for  heating  their  buildings  and  their  janitors  need  the 
same  sort  of  utensils;    there  seems  to  be  no  good  reason, 
therefore,  why  standardization  and  a  central  purchasmg 
policy  should  not  conduce  to  economy  here.    At  the  same 
time,  every  department  needs  suppUes  of  a  very  special  sort, 
ranging  all  the  way  from  chemicals  for  the  fire-protection 
service  to  shrubs  for  the  city  cemetery.    The  centraUzing 
of  such  special  purchases  may  also  be  advantageous,  but 
the  difficulties  are  obviously  greater  and  the  economies  are 
sure  to  be  fewer.    To  give  every  department  entire  freedom 
in  purchasing  suppUes,  as  has  been  done  even  in  some  cities 
with  commission  government,  is  to  invite  certain  waste. 
Not  only  does  this  poUcy  mean  higher  prices,  but  it  takes 
from  their  more  important  duties  the  time  of  highly  paid 
department  heads  and  subjects  them  to  the  pressure  of  the 
unscrupulous  who  have  supplies  to  sell.*    On  the  other  hand, 

•  The  senml  »dv«nta«eB  of  oentraUxad  puiohaBiig  have  bera  m 
dMriy  nt  forth  in  Henry  Bruftre's  Nt»  CUy  Oooemmmt  (New  York, 
1912  p.  207)  that  they  dierve  repeating  here.  "It  make,  avadable  to 
the  ci&  exp«rtne«  in  puichadng  re«ilting  from  epeoiahMtion  in  pur- 
ohadngwork.  It  «vee  time,  dirtraotion  and  oonwquent  toee  of  money 
and  rerolti  for  department  headi  and  their  tubordlnatee  by  whom  pur- 
ehaaeamurtotherwiMbemade.  It  permit. rf bi^yinginlarge quanta^ 
iutead  of  nnall  Qnanti4ie(h  thu.  Moonng  uniformity  of  price  and  quau^ 
tot  the  nme  article  enuumed  in  different  department..  It  m^  ci^ 
burinen  atteaotive  to  wholewJer.  or  manufacturer.,  by  inoreaaing  tl» 
die  of  orders    It  oentraliae.  the  point  of  eontaot  betireen  vwjdw.  and 

the  ei^  •P'«™r4,'t?SSX'1h?^  ,^r&"^tS£i 
It  htcate.  reaponailubty  for  dctemaiang  tae  proe  Boa  ^^*^jr..'r~^ 

pnrehaMd  and  for  the  Mleotion  of  rdiahle  vendors    It  •^w*««' " 
iSomaS  cheek  over  deJiverie.  in  »  far  a.  wppBe.  «»d  material,  bought 


THE  QUEST  FOR  EFFICIENCT 


25 


the  advantages  of  a  complete  central-purchasing  policy, 
covering  all  the  needs  of  all  departments,  have  not  yet 
been  demonstrated  by  the  experience  of  any  American  city.* 
To  assume  that  a  single  purchasing  agent,  however  expert 
or  highly  paid,  will  buy  paving  blocks  for  the  street  depart* 
ment,  revolvers  for  the  police,  hose  for  the  fire  stations, 
geraniums  for  the  parks,  disinfectants  for  the  health  officer, 
adding  machines  for  the  city  auditor,  transits  for  the  city 
engineer,  and  bandages  for  the  city  hospitals,  all  more 
cheaply  and  more  satisfactorily  than  the  various  officials 
could  do  this  for  themselves,  is  to  take  for  granted  something 
which  many  people  would  first  like  to  see  demonstrated. 
Much  of  our  present  chaos  in  city  purchasing  comes  from 
the  use  of  poor  accounting  methods.  If  these  were  cor- 
rected, considerable  waste  would  disappear. 

In  the  second  place,  there  should  usually  be  an  appropriate 
division  of  each  de^,  ..tment's  functions  among  two  or  more 
bureaus  or  sub-departments.  This  grouping  will  depend 
upon  whether  a  departmoit's  internal  activities  are  charac- 
terized by  unity  or  variety ;  but  the  same  general  rule  applies 
to  all  cases,  namely,  that  functions  of  like  nature  should 
be  lodged  together.  In  a  department  of  public  works,  for  ex- 
ample, there  are  duties  of  varying  character  to  be  performed. 
First,  there  is  the  selection  and  acquiring  of  land  for  streets 
or  public  buildings.  Since  land  takings  involve  at  the  best 
some  legal  formalities  and  at  the  worst  prolonged  litigation, 
the  department  either  must  have  a  l^id  staff  of  its  own  or 

by  the  purehMUig  acemt  an  nodved  and  elieoked  by  the  dqwrtmente 
which  oonsttme  &em." 

>  F<Hr  farther  diaooinon  ci  this  quettkm  the  reader  may  be  refflned  tn 
the  fdloving  papers:  Comptiolkr'a  Offlee  of  New  To^  City,  Bapart 
avbmitting  Plan  ^  Propoted  8u*t»m  for  tkt  Cmttni  Purekof  and  iKiMbw- 
timtifSupptiMforOuCUvefNew  York  (New Tndc.  1018) :  F.X.A.Par- 
odl,  "Porehaaiiig  for  Large  Citiea,"  in  PfoefUnga  tf  the  Mwnieipal 
Engineert  ef  the  CUy  e$  New  York,  1913,  n>.  152-197;  W.  R.  Smith, 
"EfBdenoy  in  City  Purohaiinc,"  in  National  Mtmieipal  Review,  ii.  239- 
250  (April,  1913);  and  F.  R.  Leadi,  "What  are  the  Beat  Mathoda  of 
Munieipai  Porofauing?"  in  Proeeadingt  <4  the  NaUanid  Aetodatian  eS 
Comptrottere  and  AeeoimUn§  Ojfeere,  1914,  pp.  136-147. 


2. 

■hoaldlMa 

foDCtioaal 

diviirionoi 

labor  witUa 

thed^art- 


ThaimUia- 
worind^ 
partnMBt  i 


lUTaikmi 
fnnetioM. 


1.  Lend. 


2.  Engi. 


8.  Con- 
■ttuotion. 


4.  Main- 
tenance. 


»       PRINCIPLBS  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

must  be  in  i«idy  contact  with  the  city's  general  law  depart- 
ment.    Vhe  former  arrangement  is  one  of  doubtful  wisdom 
even  m  the  largest  cities,  for  the  entire  legal  work  of  the  city 
ought  to  be  and  usuaUy  is  concentrated  in  one  place.    Sei 
ondly,  there  is  the  work  of  designing,  preparing  plans,draw. 
mg  specifications,  and  making  estimates  for  bmldings,  streets 
sewers,  water  supply,  and  other  municipal  comrtructions: 
llus  18  the  engmeer's  work,  and  must  be  done  with  his  assist- 
ance, just  as  the  acquisition  of  land  needs  the  services  of  the 
city  sohcitor.    Thirdly,  there  is  the  work  of  construction. 
AU  forms  of  pubhc  construction  present  the  same  general 
problems,  even  though  in  character  they  may  differ  con- 
siderably.   In  German  dty  administration  a  division  is 
made  between  underground  and  on-thensurface  construction, 
-between  laying  water  pipes  or  sewer  mains  on  the  one 
hand  and  pa^g  streets  or  erecting  buildings  on  the  other. 
There  thwe  two  branches  of  work  are  put  into  different 
t^t'  „^^.**^ /o'^t'y   we   have    gone    even   farther; 
for  m  aU  cities  of  any  considerable  sise  we  have  intrusted 
water  supply,  sewerage,  paving,  and  building  each  to  its 
own  bureau  or  division.     How  far  this  subdivision  may 
profitably  be  earned  is  not  a  thing  to  be  indicated  in  cate- 
goncal  terms     To  a  layman  there  appear  to  be  no  reason 
why  the  work  of  laymg  or  repairing  sewer  pipes  and  water 
mains  should  be  m  charge  of  different  bureaus  with  different 
gangs  of  laborers,  with  two  distinct  sets  of  equipment  and 
two  dissimilar  methods  of  keeping  records  or  accounts.    Yet 
sudi^is  the  administrative  situation  in  many  American  cities 

Again,  a  department  of  pubUc  worke  has  its  function, 
of  up-keep  and  maintenance,  the  repair  and  cleaning  of 
streets,  the  pamting  of  bridges,  often  the  mana^erTt  of 

bmldings.  This  IS  of  couree  a  somewhat  different  type  of 
work  from  that  of  planning  or  construction;  indeed,  the 
thmgs  which  group  together  under  the  general  head  of  main- 


THE  QUnST  FOR  BFFICIBNCT 


37 


tenanee  will  themselves  fall  into  subdivisioiiB.  There  is 
really  no  end  to  the  possibilities  of  functional  disintegration 
in  the  management  of  city  business,  but  there  must  always 
be  a  stage  at  which  such  process  reachos  a  point  of  diminish- 
ing returns.  When  that  point  is  reached  must  be  determined 
by  a  careful  study  of  the  requirements  in  individual  cities. 
In  one  mimicipality  it  may  conduce  to  effective  work  when 
subdivisions  of  collection  and  disposal  respectively  are  created 
within  the  division  of  strtet  cleaning  in  the  bureau  of  streets 
in  the  department  of  publi'  works ;  in  another  city  this 
would  be  a  needless  elaboration  of  administrative  apparatus. 
The  important  thing  is  that  such  questions  should  be  deter- 
mined on  their  merits  as  likely  producers  of  greater  efficiency. 
Too  often,  imhappily,  the  multiplication  of  bureaus,  divi- 
sions, subdivisions,  and  foreman's  positions  has  been  dictated 
by  purely  political  and  personal  motives,  —  to  secure  exemp- 
tion from  civil-service  rules,  or  increases  in  pay,  or  prestige 
for  favored  employees.  It  was  estimated  about  two  years 
ago  that  Boston,  as  an  instance,  had  one  foreman  for  every 
six  laborers  on  the  city's  pay-roll. 

Finally,  there  are  functions  of  finance  and  accounting 
which  a  department  of  public  works  must  either  exercise 
within  its  own  jurisdiction  or  comm:*)  to  the  regular  financial 
and  accounting  authorities  of  tL  oity.  The  administration 
of  a  water-supply  bureau,  for  example,  involves  the  assessing 
and  collection  of  water  rates.  This  work  may  be  intrusted 
to  a  revenue  division  of  the  wattT  bureau  within  the  de- 
partment of  public  works,  or  it  may  be  turned  over  to  the 
office  of  the  city  collector  or  the  city  treasurer,  as  the  case 
may  be.  As  regards  large  cities  there  are  good  arguments 
for  the  former  plan ;  in  smaller  places  the  latter  arrangement 
is  Ukely  to  be  more  economical  Yet  even  those  who  are 
most  familiar  with  the  work  of  collecting  the  water  depart- 
ment's income  are  not  always  ready  to  give  a  general  answer 
on  this  point.  It  is  the  same  with  accounting,  but  here 
the  case  for  centralising  the  work  in  the  office  for  the 


5.  Aoeowrt- 
inc. 


28       PRINCIPLB8  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


BwniilliU 


PtnoiuMla 
BMttar  of 
■tandarda. 


city  auditor  or  comptroller  is  much  stronger.  No  efficient 
qrstem  of  accounting  for  a  public-works  department  is  pos- 
sible, however,  without  the  cooperation  of  the  department 
itself.  The  department  must  at  least  be  prepared  to  use  all 
the  forms  supplied  to  it  and  to  provide  all  the  records  re- 
quired in  determining  unit  costs. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  foregoing  discussion  that  the  effi- 
cient internal  organisation  of  a  large  city  department  pre- 
sents a  problem  which  cannot  be  profitably  solved  by  an 
appeal  to  any  single  principle.  It  is  a  problem  requiring 
local  siurey  and  research.  Disintegration  may  be  carried 
too  far;  so  may  centralisation.  Of  one  extreme  we  have 
had  too  much  experience  already,  and  if  the  so-termed 
efficiency  movonent  is  not  guided  by  cautious  hands  it  may 
take  us  too  far  toward  the  other. 

A  word  or  two  of  recapitulation  may  not  be  out  of  place. 
The  prime  essential  of  an  efficient  civic  administration  is, 
first  of  all,  an  interested  and  informed  community.  This  is 
a  matter  of  supreme  importance  and  not  the  mere  expres- 
sion of  an  impractical  ideal.  Our  general  American  standard 
of  daily  life  is  far  above  our  standard  of  poUtics ;  on  all  mat- 
ters except  those  of  public  administration,  for  example,  the 
rank  and  file  of  Americans  think  as  sensibly  as  the  people 
of  any  other  land.  For  this  exception  there  is  no  ineradi- 
cable reason,  since  it  comes  largely  from  oiu*  policy  of  putting 
faith  in  statutory  automatons  rather  than  in  human  possi- 
bilities. We  can  alter  the  situation  by  raising  the  pUme  of 
electoral  interest  and  knowledge.  The  second  essential  is  a 
suitable  organic  framework  of  government,  —  its  exact  type 
matters  little ;  and  the  third  is  a  smooth-working  and  con- 
sistent scheme  of  internal  organisation. 

There  are  other  essentials,  of  course,  but  with  these  three 
in  operation  the  rest  may  reasonably  be  expected  to  devdop. 
Personnel  is  largdy  a  matter  of  standards,  and  standards 
are  the  result  of  education.  The  higher  the  political  intelli- 
gence of  the  electorate,  the  better  inevitably  will  be  the  type 


THB  QXfESr  FOB  IfTIOIKNCT 


39 


of  official  which  it  chooses  at  the  polls.  Attempts  to  raise 
the  general  plane  of  elective  office-holding  must  b^pn  at  the 
bottom,  just  as  a  prudent  nation  sets  out  to  recruit  its  milt- 
taiy  leadership  by  training  its  citisen  soldiery.  Peihaps 
this  point  has  been  rdterated  pretty  often,  but  there  is  no 
danger  of  putting  too  much  stress  upon  it. 

What  has  been  said  in  the  for^^ing  pages  gives  the  key- 
note to  the  remaining  chapters  of  the  book.  They 'are  not 
designed  to  show  how  technical  are  the  various  problems 
of  eveiy-day  municipal  administration,  or  how  desirable 
it  is  that  all  of  them  should  be  turned  over  to  experts  with 
full  power.  On  the  contrary,  they  represent  an  endeavor 
to  translate  many  sc-termed  complicated  questions  into  op> 
dinary  language,  to  ihow  that  most  matters  of  municipal 
administration  resohe  thonselves  into  broad  questions  of 
principle  or  method  which  any  ordinary  mind  can  grasp. 
Many  of  the  things  which  men  so  often  dignify  with  the  title 
of  administrative  problems  cease  to  be  problems  at  all  whok 
they  are  approached  with  a  littie  thought  and  patience. 


CHAPTER  n 


Wlwteity 
planning 


cm  PLARRniO 

Cmr  planning  is  the  science  of  designing  cities,  or  parts 
of  cities,  so  that  they  may,  as  Aristotle  said,  be  places 
''where  men  live  a  coxnmon  life  for  a  noble  end."  It  aims 
to  make  cities  more  convenient,  healthful,  efficient,  and 
beautiful.  There  is  no  department  of  municipal  adminis- 
tration which  city  planning,  in  its  broad  and  proper  sraise, 
does  not  call  into  cooperation.  It  includes  the  arranging 
of  docks,  terminals,  railroad  rights-of-way,  and  all  the  other 
instrumentalities  of  commerce,  as  well  as  the  laying  out  of 
streets,  the  location  of  trolley  routes,  elevated  structures, 
subways,  and  all  other  agencies  of  intra-urban  traffic.  It 
embraces  the  designing  of  the  public  water,  sewerage,  and 
lighting  systems,  the  grouping  and  architecture  of  public 
buildings,  the  location  of  parks,  playgrounds,  and  centres 
of  recreation,  and,  not  least  in  point  of  importance,  the  regu- 
lation of  private  building  in  such  way  that  the  health  and 
general  welfare  of  the  citizens  may  be  best  conserved.  All 
these  things  should  be  cared  for  in  a  proper  city  plan,  and  the 
city's  planning  department  ought  consequently  to  be  the 
focussing  point  for  every  branch  of  municipal  administration. 
It  is  needless  to  add,  however,  that  this  proposition  remains 
an  ideal  and  is  altogether  likely  to  continue  so  for  some  time 
to  come.    It  will  be  realized,  if  at  all,  by  gradual  stages. 


HiarroBT  op  ctty  plannino 

The  idea  of  planning  communities  is  not  altogether  new. 
Even  the  cities  of  antiquity  were  to  some  extent  constructed 

30 


OITT  PLAimiMO 


81 


with  care  and  foreright.    The  port  of  Athens  wm  laid  out  JJ;;^ 
by  Hippodamus,  and  some  parts  of  the  city  itself  wert  con-  ^.^i, 
structed  with  great  attention  to  matters  of  pubUc  conven-  "«* 
ience     The  chief  marketrplace,  or  agora,  for  example,  was 
developed  into  a  real  civic  centre  surrounded  by  its  rectangu- 
lar network  of  streets.    Rome,  after  the  great  fire  of  Nero  s 
reign,  was  reconstructed,  in  part  at  any  rate,  accordmg  to 


1 


Wf^^PW* 


IVfVTC 


r 


rrii 


*y>| 


I 


IW 


tssssssj 


JL 


□c 


sssiff 


m 


1? 


nr 


»•«« 


^mlWiHM^V 


»#•        — 


h 


definite  phms.  In  the  other  cities  of  the  empire  the  usual 
poUcy  was  to  take  as  a  modd  the  eaatra,  or  miUtaiy  camp, 
divided  at  right  angles  by  streets  leading  to  the  four  mam 
gates.*  In  the  Roman  provincial  city  two  chief  centres  were 
uBuaUy  provided,  the  market  and  the  forum,  each  set  in  a 
large  public  square  from  which  main  streets  radiated.  But 
here  uniformity  ends.  The  Romans  were  as  practical  in  thdr 
city  planning  as  in  everything  else ;  they  had  a  keen  eyeto 
local  geography  and  varied  their  work  accordingly.*  The 
first  great  writer  on  the  art  of  urban  phmning  was  a  Roman 

» The  geneo.  of  the  KHtermed  "gridiron"  'S^^^^^!;^^!^ 
perhap.  bTfound  in  this  ««tr«.  •  V^^J"^^  •^^ISTS???  ^? 
Symond  Unwin'.  Town  Plonnifv  <«  PraeHetJ^A  «^MiondM,  1911),  P^ 

tTheb«»g«i«r.ldi«m«ionolurb«pl«inin«toOi~k»dl^^ 
may  be  found  in  F.  H»v«fleld'i  Aneimt  Town  Plonmnff  (Oxford.  WW). 


32       PRmCIPLIS  OP  MUNICIPAL  AOMDniTRATION 


Mtdfaml 


of  the  imperial  age,  and  even  to-day  his  diaouaaiont  are  not 
without  interest.* 

The  cities  of  medisval  Europe  other  than  those  in  which 
Roman  influoiee  continued  to  prevail  grew  up  for  the  most 
part  in  strictly  haphasard  fashion,  their  populations  hemmed 
into  restricted  quarters  by  the  circular  walls  of  defence.  The 
dominant  physical  feature  ot  fche  community  was  the  castle 
or  citadel,  from  which  a  few  main  thoroughfares,  narrow 
and  crooked  at  best,  radiated  outward  to  the  dty  gates. 
Mediseval  streets  were  rarely  thirty  feet  in  width,  and  most 
of  them  were  considerably  less.  With  the  Renaissance, 
however,  came  q>oradic  attempts  to  make  streets  wider  and 
to  relieve  the  evils  of  congestion  in  other  ways,  partictdarly 
in  the  cities  of  Germany  and  northern  Italy.  When  the  city 
walls  proved  no  longer  necessary  for  defence  they  were  in 
many  cases  torn  down  and  the  space  was  utilised  for  one  or 
more  circular  streets.  Thus  in  many  of  the  older  European 
cities  we  find  traces  of  concentric  rings  in  the  modem  street 
plans,  as,  for  example,  in  Antwerp,  Cologne,  and  ^enna.'  It 
is  not  until  the  last  half  of  the  seventeenth  century,  however, 
tiiat  one  encounters  the  eariiest  instance  of  a  really  compre- 
hensive city  plan  which,  had  it  been  followed,  would  have 
become  a  capital  model  for  the  other  large  cities  of  Europe. 

After  the  great  London  fire  of  1666  Christopher  Wren  was 
T'ul^  instructed  by  royal  order  to  make  a  survey  of  the  burned 
metropolis  and  to  present  a  plan  for  removing  "the  deformi- 
ties and  inconveniences  of  the  old  town  .  .  .  by  .  .  .  en- 
larging the  streets  .  .  .,  by  seating  all  the  parochial  churches 
"conspicuous  and  insular ;  by  forming  the  most  pubUc  places 
into  large  piazzas  .  .  .  [and]  by  making  a  commodious  key 
on  the  whole  bank  of  the  river." '    Judged  in  the  lij^t  oi 

>  Vitruvius,  The  Ten  Booka  €^  ArekitMtvn  (tmud»tod  1^  M.  H.  Motgaa. 
Cunbridge.  Mm*.,  1914). 

*  H.  I.  Trigg,  Town  Plannino  (London.  1009).  p.  76. 

*  The  detaib  (rf  the  jima  may  be  studied  in  Junea  Ebnei'i  Memoir$  ej 
tkt  Ujt  ani  Worlu  of  Sir  Chrittephtr  Wren  (Lond<m,  1S23),  aqwdaUy 
Appendix,  No.  13. 


OITT  PLANNINQ 


London's  MTent«enth-«enttu7  demands,  the  plan  prepared 
hy  Wrea  was  admirable.  It  would  have  assured  the  archi- 
tectural hegemony  of  the  British  metropolis  among  the  dtiea 
of  the  world.  Briefly,  it  provided  for  three  principal  thor> 
oughfares,  each  ninety  feet  wide,  straif^t  through  the  dt^y, 
but  not  parallel,  with  intuseoting  cross  streets  at  short  in- 
tervals, each  sixty  feet  wide.  Provision  was  also  made  for 
several  public  squares  or  plasas  with  radiating  streets,  and 
the  whole  problem  of  utilising  the  river  front  was  worked 


out  with  care.  A  better  combination  of  the  radial  and  chc 
board  plans  it  would  be  difficult  to  find.  Two  of  Wren's 
main  streets  converged  at  St.  Paul's  cathedral,  and  two 
joined  at  his  proposed  gnat  commercial  centre  with  its 
radial  streets  reaching  to  the  docks  and  London  bridge.^ 
Unfo.tuuately,  however,  the  land-owners  of  the  city  raised 
such  a  storm  of  protest  that  the  authorities  did  not  venture 
to  force  Wren's  plans  into  operation.  London  grew  up  on 
practically  the  same  lines  that  had  odsted  before  the  fire ; 
the  great  architect's  work  went  for  naught ;  and  the  Enj^idi 
capital  has  been  forced  to  spend,  during  the  last  two  and  a 
half  centuries,  many  times  what  it  would  have  cost  to  com^ 
pensate  the  obstructing  land-owners  after  1666. 

When  the  first  Congress  of  the  United  States  had  decided 
to  place  the  nation's  capital  on  the  riiores  of  the  Potomac, 

*  The  MMompujriiic  oatlias  wOl  giT*  a  flHiml  idw  of  Wmt'i  pnJMt. 


L'Xafut'a 
pin  for 

WmI 


W       PIUNCIPLM  OF  MUmOIPAL  AmiZNnTRATION 

it  WM  thou^t  dMinble  to  have  a  lunrex  nuwie  and  a  |riui 
prepared  before  the  work  of  actual  city  building  ihould  begin. 
For  tbie  undertaking  Preddent  Wadiington  lecured  the  ser. 
vices  of  Pierre  Charies  L'Enfant,  a  French  miUtaiy  engineer 
who  had  aseisted  the  American  army  during  the  Reroltt- 
tionaiy  war  and  had  alao  been  connected  with  various  dvie 
transformations  in  Paris.    L'Enfant  did  his  work  well  and 
his  plans  were  adopted.     Some  time  later  considenble 
changes  were  made  because  the  city  persisted  in  outgrowing 
districts  where  large  growth  had  not  been  anticipated,  but 
in  essentials  the  Washington  of  to-day  is  as  the  draftsman 
first  planned  it.    It  is  the  only  large  city,  in  either  America 
or  Europe,  that  has  had  all  its  streets  planned  a  century  in 
advance.    As  for  the  plan  itself,  it  embodied  in  the  main 
the  orthodox  notions  of  its  day.    ITie  groundwork  is  a  rec- 
tangle, with  one  series  of  streets  running  north  and  south,— 
the  so-termed  gritJiron  plan,  —  but  with  main  avenues  lead- 
ing in  various  direvtions  over  the  most  ft .  *  'rble  ground  in 
such  manner  as  to  provide  direct  connv-H  n  between  the 
points  selected  as  the  sites  of  the  great  public  buildings. 
Rectangular  streets  were  then  laid  out  so  as  to  intersect 
with  the  avenues  at  the  predetermined  points.    Hence  there 
is  a  very  marked  departure  from  the  formal  gridiron  arrange- 
ment;  indeed,  the  distinction  of  L'Enfant's  plan,  aside 
from  the  great  prominence  which  it  gives  to  the  location  of 
government  bufldings,  is  this  free  use  of  diagonal  avenues. 
The  engineer  was  lavish  of  land,  taking  generous  widths  for 
all  his  main  streets,  avenues,  and  squares.    Even  to-day  a 
relatively  larger  area  is  devoted  to  public  purposes  in 
Washington  than  in  any  other  of  the  worid's  large  dties.* 
'  The  main  ttmtmm  oT  L'lnfuifi  jdui  Mpesr  in  tbe  MoonwuiTiaa 

not  (he  Frmoh  enginew'i  work.  Tliii  «m  added  by  the  B^nhem^ 
mismon  of  1902.  The  original  L'Bnftot  nu^  h»d  eonie  quiStbMr^ 
esplanations  lettered  along  it«  maigiu.  and  wie  al»  afl^mpSedbva 
nwmorandum  addrmed  to  Wadiington  in  whieh  the  engiaewutet^ 
to  nu^  hia  planning  methods  elear.  "  Having  ilntdBtemfa«ri\^ 
l»iiKrf|»l  poinV' IM.  «pWn^  "  to  whioh  I  widS^JKg  tiSS^ 


»J 


OITT  PLANNDfO 


ss 


More  tlun  *  century  before  WMhington  wm  laid  out  the 
lurveyon  employed  by  ^^^Uiun  Penn  had  nuMie  their  pbm  ]^<^ 
for  hit  new  city  of  FhilaUeiphi*  (1682).    Hiis  plan  wm  pwL 
simplicity  iteelf,  the  evenuee  end  etreets  intenwcting  at  ^^Su 
right  an^ee  everjrwhere.     About  one-thirtieth  of  the  area 
waa  let  apart  for  five  equaree  or  open  epacea,  in  one  of 
which  the  publie  buildinga  were  to  be  located.^ 


0i^9^^f9  wr 0^09/^1^9^  wrWHf0ffw 


Ten  years  aftw  L'Enfant  had  prepared  his  plans  for 
Washington  the  authorities  of  New  York  turned  their  atten> 
tion  to  the  matter  of  providing  a  scheme  for  their  rapidly 
expanding  city.  A  street  commission  was  appointed,  and 
in  1807  various  plans  of  street  lay-out  for  the  upper  por- 
tion of  Manhattan  island  were  considered.    In  the  end  the 

nate,  I  nnt  lud*  the  distribotioD  ngular  with  rtneto  at  ri^t  m^m, 
north-floath  and  eaat-west.  But  afterwards  I  opened  othen  in  various 
di<^tio&B  as  avoiues  to  and  from  every  ininoipal  plaoe,  wisUnc  by  this 
D  '  merely  to  otmtrast  with  the  general  teculari^  nor  to  afford  a  greater 
variety  of  jdeasant  seats  and  prospoets,  .  .  .  but  prinoipally  to  oonmet 
eaoh  part  of  the  oity  with  mote  effioaay  by,  if  I  may  so  expnM,  making 
Um  real  distMiee  less  fkom  phMM  to  phMM."  A  good  goieral  aoeonat  of 
L'SnfanVs  work  may  be  readify  found  in  W.  B.  B^yu's  HMory  ei  Oa 
National  Capital  (2  vob..  New  York,  1914-    ),  vtj.  i,  ohs.  vl-vii. 

'  An  oatUoe  of  the  original  FltUaddiAiaiAMinwy  befool  in  Baynond 
Uawm's  Tom  namniitg  m  PraeUea  (Landoa,  1911).  p.  9a 


3d       PRINCIPLES  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


11 


ThaHaiua- 


MMMtrae- 
tioain 


commissioii  adopted  the  gridiron  idea  with  slight  modifica- 
tions, such  as  those  involved  in  the  leaving  of  upper  Broad- 
way and  the  Bowery  to  run  diagonally  across  the  system. 
One  of  the  most  striking  examples  of  the  rectangular  plan 
to  be  found  in  any  city  is  afforded  by  the  New  York  of  to- 
day, from  Fourteentii  Street  northward.     The  commission's 
scheme  provided  two  thousand  city  blocks,  each  two  hundred 
feet  wide,  no  more,  no  less ;  it  made  no  attempt  to  utilize 
the  natural  beauties  of  the  Hudson  and  none  to  provide 
suitable  locations  for  great  public  edifices.    The  result,  as 
Frederick  Law  Olmsted  has  pointed  out,  is  that  New  York 
City  affords  "no  place  idiere  a  stately  building  can  be 
looked  up  to  from  base  to  turret,  none  where  it  can  even 
be  seen  full  in  the  face  and  all  at  once  taken  in  by  the  eye ; 
none  where  it  can  be  viewed  in  advantageous  perspective." 
In  all  fairness  to  the  comnissioners  of  1807  it  should  be 
added,  however,  that  they  did  make  liberal  provision  for 
public  squares  and  open  spaces;  but  many  of  these  have 
long  since  disappeared,  because  during  the  first  half  of  the 
nineteenth  century  real-estate  promoters  managed  to  get 
special  legislation  eliminating  them.    The  general  tjrpe  of 
street  plan  which  determined  the  growth  of  Philadelphia 
and  New  York  also  proved  popular  in  most  other  American 
cities.    Its  influence  is  plainly  seen  in  the  newer  parts  of 
Boston  and  is  very  marked  in  some  sections  of  San  Francisco. 
The  most  courageous  and  in  some  ways  the  most  success- 
ful of  nineteenth-centuiy  enterprises  in  the  field  of  civic 
reconstruction  were  those  undertaken  in  Paris  during  the 
period  of  the  Second  Empire.    They  gave  a  new  impetus 
to  city  planning  everywhere.    Under  the  direction  of  Baron 
Georges  Engine  Haussmann,  who  held  the  post  of  prefect 
of  the  Sdne  from  1853  to  1870,  the  work  of  reconstructing 
a  large  part  of  the  city  along  new  lines  was  planned  and 
b^un.    The  undertakhig  was  carried  through  on  a  scale 
that  involved  oiormous  expenditures.    Napoleon  III  was 
altogeUier  in  sympathy  with  the  gesaeni.  sdieme  and  gava 


Cmr  PLANNINO 


37 


his  full  support  at  eveiy  stage,  even  thou|^  he -failed  at 
times  to  appreciate  the  artistic  cc  isiderations  which  Hauss- 
mann  had  so  much  at  heart. 

The  most  striking  feature  of  Haussmann's  work  was  its 
comprehensive  thoroughness.  Whole  districts  were  rased ; 
broad  boulevards  and  avenues  were  cut  through  areas  where 
there  had  been  only  narrow  streets  and  alleyways ;  spacious 
plazas,  squares,  gardens,  and  courts  were  provided.  The 
most  conspicuous  aspect  of  the  street  reconstructions, 
apart  from  the  almost  unprecedented  width  of  the  new 
avenues,  watt  the  scheme  of  making  these  broad  thorouf^- 
fares  converge  into  great  open  places  or  centres  like  the 
Race  de  I'Etoile.  As  t^ere  was  no  attempt  at  a  rectan- 
gular arrangement,  the  newer  Paris  is  not  so  formal  or  so 
simple  in  its  street  plan  as  is  Washington.  There  are  long, 
broad  thorou^ares  of  traffic  running  straight  through  the 
heart  of  the  city ;  there  are  avenues  which  cut  diagonally 
across;  there  are  boulevards  that  swing  round  in  half- 
circular  fashion ;  and  there  are  multitudes  of  Uttle  streets 
which,  untouched  by  the  Haussmann  renovations,  run  here 
and  there  in  free  haphazardness.  The  street  reconstructions 
alone  cost  more  than  a  bilUon  francs,  despite  the  fact  that 
the  city  received  substantial  sums  through  the  increased 
value  of  lands  abutting  on  the  new  highways.^ 

About  the  same  time  great  strides  were  bdng  made  in 
an  effort  to  modernize  Vienna.  As  late  as  the  middle  years 
of  the  nineteenth  century  the  Austrian  capital  was  still  a 
walled  city,  but  the  population  had  overflowed  the  area 
within  the  walk  and  spread  out  into  suburbs  beyond.  By 
1858  it  was  decided,  in  view  of  improvements  in  military 
science,  that,  since  the  old  walls  and  moat  served  no  real 

'  Then  is  a  good  gmcnl  dntdi  of  HMunuum'i  work,  with  iOuitmtioiia, 
in  the  artielM  by  Edwwd  R.  Omith  oo  "Banm  H«nwnMin  mad  (he 
T-^'^ogr^thioal  Tnuufonnation  of  Puis  under  Ni^doon  III,"  in  tine  Areki- 
U.  ral  Rteord,  adi.  121-133, 227-238,  d»-9»k  (Ai«tu^Noy«mber,  1007). 
Tfafi  gntX  pNr«ot'*  Mitobiopaphy  (O.  B.  HMMtniMUi,  MimoirM,  3  voli., 
Pwii,  1800-1898)  eoatains  »  foil  Moooitt  at  tlw  itoiModoai  worib 


\imam. 


38       PKINCIPLBS  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINI8TRATION 

defennve  purpose,  the  space  occupied  by  them  might  be 
better  used  to  afford  the  city  a  new  engird^  artery  of 
traffic.  Accordingly  the  walls  were  demolished,  the  moat 
was  filled,  and  the  magnificent  RingOrasse  of  presentpday 
Vienna  took  their  place.  The  new  thoroughfare  forms  a 
sort  of  polygon,  with  a  main  roadway  fifty  feet  wide,  and 
on  either  side  smaller  parallel  roadways  each  twenty  feet 
in  width  and  lined  with  double  rows  of  trees.  Abutting 
on  it  space  was  reserved  for  various  gardens,  small  parks, 
and  sites  for  public  buildings.  From  many  points  of  view 
this  is  the  world's  most  imposing  street.  The  work  was 
done  not  by  the  city  authorities  but  by  an  imperial  com- 
misnon ;  and  the  cost  was  practically  nothing,  for  the  land 
belonged  to  the  state  and  such  portions  as  were  sold  to 
private  parties  sufficed  to  pay  not  only  for  the  making  of 
the  street  but  for  many  abutting  public  improvements  as 

well. 
During  the  last  half-centuiy  replanning  s  aones,  more 
FtmiaA-dv  or  less  comprehensive  in  their  scope,  have  been  carried 
Si.'***^  through  in  a  great  many  cities  of  Europe.  In  London  the 
R^^t  Street  reconstructions,  the  Thames  Embankment, 
and  the  new  King's  Way  are  only  a  few  examples.  In  the 
cities  of  Gwmany  there  has  been  ev&a  greater  progress  along 
similar  lines;  the  achievonents  of  Frankfort,  Cologne, 
Dtlsseldorf,  Mannheim,  and  Karlsruhe  in  this  direction  are 
wdl  known.  The  reconstruction  of  any  European  dty  is 
always  a  very  expensive  matter ;  for  it  is  the  down-town 
area  that  needs  the  dty  planner^e  attention,  and  there  the 
"property  which  must  be  bought  for  street  widraing  is  ex- 
eedingly  valuable.  In  the  municipalities  of  newer  coun- 
tries, like  the  United  States,  South  America,  and  Australia, 
the  problem  is  often  simpler.  Here  a  repUmning  sdieme 
does  not  to  the  same  degree  involve  cutting  the  heart  out 
of  a  community,  though  some  New  Worid  replanning  proj- 
ects, such  as  that  of  Buenos  Airos,  for  example,  have  oitaildl 
some  ooBtly  heart-outtang  operations.    At  any  rate,  lubw 


iM 


oiTT  vuxnmtQ  t9 

planning  and  repUnning  is  no  longer  confined  to  dties  of 
older  lands.  In  the  United  States  particuUriy,  various 
movements  for  improved  transportation  facilities,  for  hous- 
ing  reform,  for  better  parks  amd  more  playgrovmds,  have 
combined  to  focus  attention  upon  city  planning,  and  a 
multitude  of  currents  in  public  opinion  are  converging  in 
the  same  general  direction.  Despite  great  obstacles,  as 
will  be  indicated  presently,  the  movement  is  making  good 
headway.* 


MidimdiaL 


TTPB8  OF  CITT  PLAN 

In  general  there  are  two  types  of  plan,  either  or  both  of 
which  may  be  employed  in  laying  out  a  new  city  or  sub-  ^^^|*^ 
urban  district.  The  older  plan  endeavors  to  make  the  streets 
straight,  to  have  them  intersect  at  right  angles,  to  fix  all 
building  lots  in  standard  shapes  and  sises,  —  in  a  word,  to 
make  everything  formal,  simple,  and  regular.  American 
cities  have  found  it  difficult  to  get  far  away  from  this  ar- 
rangement. The  other  and  newer  type  does  not  aim  at 
sjrmmetiy  or  regularity,  but  freely  uses  diagonal  or  winding 
streets  on  the  principle  that  in  a  proper  city  plan  picture 
esqueness  may  and  diould  be  combined  with  utility.  It  is 
based  on  the  idea  of  conforming  eveiything  to  local  geog- 
raphy and  avoiding  artificial  rules.  Let  it  be  emphasised, 
however,  that  the  prime  purpose  in  the  use  of  winding  or 
diagonal  streets  is  not  merely  to  add  something  picturesque 
to  the  city  plan.  Incidentally  that  advantage  is  usually 
secured;  but  the  chief  aims  are  to  get  better  means  ci 
handling  traffic,  to  avoid  excessive  grades  (which  put  a 
heavy  burden  upon  traffic,  as  the  experience  ot  Seattle  has 
so  well  demonstrated),  and  to  keep  the  cost  of  street  con- 
struction within  reasonable  bounds  by  avoiding  any  needless 
taking  of  e]q>ensive  private  property  for  street  purposes. 

>F.  L.  01iiwt«d.  "Th*  Town  Pluaiaff  Movtmmt  in  Anariea,"  in 
AnfuU*  cf  the  Amtriean  Aeadnmy  gf  PoUtieat  and  SoeUA  8Hmtc$,  U  (whoia 
no.  140,  Houtin§  Mrf  Tmm  PtmuOiti,  1914),  pp.  173-I81. 


40       PRINCIPLB8  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINiaTRATION 


IteitoMid 
<Waetoo( 


Both  types  of  plan  have  their  respeetive  moits ;  both  are 
seriously  defective  when  carried  to  an  extreme.  With  all 
its  monotony,  the  older  or  gridiron  method  of  laying  out 
streets  is  economical  in  the  amount  of  land  that  it  takes 
for  public  purposes,  and  it  facilitates  the  task  of  finding  one's 
way  about  a  large  city.  It  is,  moreover,  not  by  any  means 
so  great  an  obstacle  to  the  satLrfactory  handling  ot  traffic  as 
the  average  citizen  seems  to  think.  On  the  other  hand,  this 
rectangular  lay-out  has  serious  drawbacks.  For  one  thing,  it 
means  a  great  deal  of  extra  travel  in  going  from  one  point 
to  another.  The  most  direct  lines  between  parts  of  the  city 
which  it  is  important  to  connect  hardly  ever  coincide  with 
the  arbitrary  locations  of  streets  laid  out  in  checkerboard 
fashion.  This  is  especially  true  in  the  matter  of  travel  be- 
tween the  down-town  and  the  radially  outlying  sections  oi 
the  city.  The  diagonal  of  a  square  is  nearly  thirty  per  cent 
shorter  than  a  course  around  two  sides.  With  the  rectan- 
gular plan  in  operation  a  considerable  part  of  the  city's 
traffic  must  inevitably  cover  the  longer  routes. 

The  radial  system,  for  its  part,  takes  more  land  for  street 
purposes ;  but  this  does  not  necessarily  mean  greater  cost, 
since  the  streets  may  be  planned  to  avoid  steep  grades  or  to 
preclude  the  need  of  cutting  thdr  way  through  valuable 
property.  It  is  Ukely  also  to  give  more  direct  connection 
between  important  traffic  centres,  and  incidentally  it  fosters 
architecture  versatility.  It  is  well  to  remember,  however, 
that  even  "  informality  "  in  planning  may  be  overdone.  The 
meandering  roadways  which  have  sometimes  bjBea  charted 
on  modem  city  plans  in  the  far-fetched  endeavor  to  repro- 
duce the  picturesqueness  of  some  medieval  thoroughfare 
show  an  utter  disregard  of  the  first  and  all-important  pur- 
pose that  a  street  is  supposed  to  serve.  The  modem  city  is 
not  feudal  in  its  environment  or  its  needs.  If  convenience  is 
too  readily  sacrificed  in  an  endeavor  to  secure  quaintness 
or  individuaUty,  the  city-planning  movement  cannot  hope  to 
make  progress  in  the  hard-headed  communities  of  the  pres* 


A 


m 


OITT  PLANNINO 


41 


ent  day.  On  the  othor  hand,  infonnality  has  its  merits. 
The  physical  configurations  of  the  land  on  which  the  streets 
are  to  be  built  may  well  dictate  either  formal  or  informal 
treatment,  or,  better  yet,  some  soisible  combination  of  the 
two.  One  objection  to  the  old  rectangular  plan  may  be 
overcome,  for  instance,  by  circular  treatment  at  street 
intersections,  as  exemplified  in  such  places  as  Regent  Girde 
or  Oxford  Curcus  in  London.* 

As  a  practical  programme,  present-day  planning  is  chiefly 
concerned  with  the  proper  devdopment  of  new  suburbs 
and  with  the  reconstruction  of  small  portions  of  the  down- 
town districts.  Private  interests  which  have  projects  of 
suburban  development  in  hand  have  come  to  realize  that 
a  wise  planning  of  streets  and  public  services,  even  though 
it  may  involve  great  initial  outiay,  brings  better  prices  for 
building  lots.  In  America  most  of  the  actual  experience  has 
been  in  the  suburban  area;  much  replanning  of  business 
sections  has  been  done  on  paper,  but  very  little  has  reached 
the  stage  of  actual  accomplishment.  So  far  as  down-town 
districts  are  concerned,  the  main  spur  to  highway  replan- 
ning has  been  the  urgent  need  of  relieving  traffic  conj^ion. 
To  widen  a  street  or  to  convert  an  alleyway  into  a  traffic 
thoroughfare  has  been,  as  a  rule,  all  that  the  dty  authorities 
have  ventured  to  do  at  any  one  time ;  yet  the  sum  total  of 
tiiese  sMall  projects,  when  taken  over  a  period  of  years, 
may  mean  a  virtual  reconstruction  of  the  street  facilities  in 
portions  of  the  city.  In  this  sphere,  moreover,  city  plan- 
ning should  be  preventive  as  well  as  podtive.  The  aim 
should  be  to  preclude,  by  all  reasonable  means,  any  action, 
whether  public  or  private,  that  is  Ukdy  to  stand  in  the  way 
of  future  improvements,  by  making  such  action  unduly 
difficult  or  expendve. 


pwtooC 


>  C.  M.  RoUiuon,  The  ImfnmmmU  tf  Citiaa  and  Tomif  (New  Totk, 
10U),p.2e. 


42       PRINCIPLBS  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


flkuwimt- 
icMolra- 
pUnnincin 
AiiMrie»:iU 


1.  Bolstive 

■bMBoeof 

MUteeon- 


a.  Conrtih 
tutionalob- 


cirr  FLANinNO  m  ambbiga 

In  comparison  with  variouB  countries  of  weetem  Europe 
the  progress  of  replanning  in  American  cities  has  been  slow, 
a  condition  for  which  there  are  several  reasons.    In  the 
first  place,  the  traffic  congestion  in  even  the  older  parts  of 
American  cities  has  seldom  become  absolutely  intolerable. 
Besides,  even  the  oldest  streets  of  New  York  and  Boston 
are  not  so  hopelessly  narrow  as  those  that  have  come  down 
as  the  heritage  of  mediajval  times  in  Europe.    They  are  not 
so  broad  as  we  should  make  them  if  we  were  planning  new 
centres  of  population  in  America  to-day;  but  so  long  as 
traffic  can  be  wedged  through  them  in  some  fashion  the 
natural  tendency  is  to  leave  them  as  they  are.    In  many 
European  cities,  on  the  other  hand,  the  situation  has  been 
such  as  to  make  street  widening  absolutely  necessary.    A 
twenty-four-foot  street  simply  will  not  do  the  work ;  hence 
the  municipal  authorities  have  no  option  but  to  get  more 
room  for  traffic,  no  matter  what  the  cost. 

Another  feature  which  has  operated  to  retard  progress  in 
replanning  in  the  cities  of  the  United  States  is  the  existence 
of  constitutional  restrictions  upon  the  taking  of  private 
property  for  pubUc  improvements.  The  acquisition  of 
hmd  under  condemnation  proceedings  has  been  a  slow  and 
costly  process;  and  cities  have,  further,  been  limited  to 
the  taking  of  no  more  than  was  actually  needed  for  some 
strictly  public  use.  The  methods  pursued  by  Baron  Hauss- 
maim  in  Paris  would  not  until  very  recently  have  been 
possible  in  the  cities  of  this  country.*  Moreover,  the  kws 
reUting  to  special  assessments  have  usually  contained  limit- 
ing provisions  that  made  it  extremely  difficult  for  the  city 
to  recoup  itself  by  levying  any  considerable  part  of  the  cost 
of  street  widening  upon  the  owners  of  such  properties  as  were 
benefited  thereby.    Not  more  than  a  third  or  a  half  of  the 

>  ConatitutioiuJ  wnendmenU  permittios  exoew  oondomnation  (Me 
bdow,  pp.  91-«S)  h»ve  now  broadoied  the  dtiee*  powwa  in  •ev««l 
American  Btatea. 


m 


CITT  PLANMINO 


43 


kent  of 


8, 

tnthrw 


outlay  can  vauaHy  be  raiaed  by  the  apedal 
neighboring  property. 

Finally,  from  an  administratiye  standpoint,  the  cities  of 
Europe  have  been  in  a  better  pontion  to  plan  and  car/ 
through  large  schemes  of  street  reconstruction.    In  the 
security  of  tenure  which  they  give  to  their  city  officials,  and 
in  their  ability  to  obtain  and  to  keep  capable  experts,  thqr 
have  a  great  advantage  over  the  cities  of  this  country,  where 
only  rarely  can  any  public  official  hold  office  long  enough 
to  see  his  i^ans  brought  to  fruition,  and  where  even  moderate 
effidency  does  not  always  characterise  what  a  city  under- 
takes.   Too  much  stress  can  scarcely  be  laid  on  this  point. 
The  German  and  English  taxpayer  has  confidence  in  the 
ability  of  his  city  government  to  do  things  economically 
and  well ;  the  American  taxpayer  knows  from  a  wealth  of 
experience  that  public  improvements  ahnost  always  cost 
the  city  far  more  than  the  estimated  outlay,  and  frequently 
much  more  than  they  are  worth.     It  is  not  that  the 
American  people  are,  as  a  race,  deficient  in  nsthetio  sense 
or  unappredative  of  those  things  which  lend  attractive- 
ness to  Paris  or  Vienna.    If  legal  diffictilties  can  be  swept 
away  and  plans  committed   to  men  who  deserve  public 
confidence,  it  will  doubtless  be  found  that  American  tax- 
payers are  ready  to   spend   suffident   sums  in  planning 
schemes.    Of  this  willingness,  indeed,  the  parks  and  boiile- 
vards  of  Greater  Boston  furnish  most  striking  evidence. 
But  people  are  not  eager  to  intrust  the  expending  of  millions 
to  boards  of  aldermen  or  street  commisdoners  so  long  as 
there  exists  a  practical  certainty  that  much  of  the  money 
will  be  squandered. 

Until  very  recent  years  American  dties  have  had  no 
regular  planning  authorities.    Each  administrative  departs  ^^^ 
ment  has  done  its  own  planning,  often  with  little  or  no  {datming 
concern  as  to  what  other  departments  were  doing.    There  '•"•"•^ 
has  been  no  coordinating  agency.    The  officials  and  boards 
in  charge  of  the  various  dty  departments,  such  as  streets, 


Thdr 


44       PmNCIPUH  or  MUNICIPAL  ADMINMTIUTION 

parks,  buUdingB,  water  supply,  housing,  and  so  on,  have  not 
been  responsible  to  any  conunon  superior,  much  lees  to  one 
another.    Some  have  been  «lected,  some  appointed.    There 
has  been  nothing  to  compel  work  in  harmony.    During  the 
last  half-dosen  years,  however,  steps  have  been  taken  to 
remove  this  great  defect  of  American  city  administration. 
In  many  places  charters  and  state  laws  have  begun  to  pro- 
vide for  regular  planning  authorities.    It  is  not  enough 
that  a  city  Aall  have  a  plan  prepared ;  there  must  be  some 
body  with  authority  to  change  and  adapt  plans  as  altei^ 
ing  conditions  require.    The  first  American  city  to  estab- 
lish a  permanent  planning  board  was  Hartford,  which  in 
1907  created  a  commisMon  conasting  of  the  mayor,  the 
heads  of  various  city  departments,  one  alderman,  one 
member  of  the  common  council,  and  two  dtisens.    It  was 
provided  by  law  that  all  questions  rdating  to  street  improve- 
ments, park  reconstruction,  and  the  location  of  public 
buildings  should  be  referred  to  this  board  for  its  considera- 
tion before  final  action  by  the  city  government.    The  ex- 
ample was  soon  followed  in  other  states;  a  dosen  or  more 
among  them  have  now  authorised  the  esUblishmoit  of 
planning  boards  in  some  or  all  of  their  cities.*    In  Massa- 
chusetts these  boards  are  made  up  of  five  members  appointed 
by  the  mayor  (or  in  commission-^vemed  cities  by  the  com- 
mission) ;  each  member  is  named  for  a  five-year  term  and 
one  retires  annually. 

In  all  the  states,  however,  the  planning  boards  have  little 
more  than  advisory  powers.  They  have  no  means  of  com- 
pelling the  city  departments  to  dovetail  their  work,  and  no 
way  of  applying  pressure  to  secure  even  a  reasonable  con- 
sideration of  any  proposals  they  may  make.  Usually  a 
small  appropriation  is  provided  for  the  planning  board  in 
the  annual  budget,  but  rardy  if  ever  is  this  sufficient  to 
t  A  list  (tf  theie  commiMOM,  with  dates  <rf  th«r  appointment,  u  givwi 
in  Flavel  Shurtteff  and  P.  L.  Olmrted't  Carrying  out  iKe  <?»<V /ten ;  «• 
Praaiad  AppUeatkm  <^  Amtrieun  Law  in  thi  BxteuHan  af  Citg  FUnu 
(New  York,  1914),  pp.  191-192. 


OITT  PLANNINO 


45 


paj  for  the  work  that  mutt  be  done  if  the  board  it  to  becmne 
s  real  faetor  in  dty  administration.  Yet  the  mere  eetab* 
liflhment  of  advisoiy  boards  is  a  ooniiderable  step  in  the 
ri^t  direction;*  the  mandatory  powers  will  doubtless 
eome  in  due  time.  When  that  stage  is  reached  it  will  be 
prudent  to  give  more  attention  to  the  methods  of  selecting 
the  boards  and  to  their  organisation.  A  body  of  unpaid 
cituens  cannot  be  ex^peeted  to  do  the  work  propoiy ;  nor 
is  such  a  body  wdl  equipped  to  secure  proper  coordination 
among  existing  city  departments.  A  wdl-organiaed  plan- 
ning board  ouf^t  to  have  as  ex  officio  members  some  officns 
who  are  closely  in  touch  with  the  financial  and  engineering 
branches  of  city  administration.'  Some  dties  have  made 
such  an  arrangement.  In  St.  Louis,  for  example,  seven  of 
the  fif  teoi  monbers  of  the  planning  commission  are  men  who 
hold  other  positions  in  the  city  government.  From  its  veiy 
nature  the  work  of  a  planning  board  must  overiap,  at  various 
points,  work  that  is  already  being  done,  ratiier  impmfectly 
perhaps,  by  existing  agencies.  It  is  hi^y  desirable  that 
these  latter  should  be  harmonised. 


THB  FLANNINQ  SUBVKT 

When  a  city-planning  board  has  been  established,  its 
first  work  is  not  to  make  a  plan  but  to  gather  the  prelimi-  ^?^^ 
nary  data  which  must  be  brought  together  before  any  atmot^ 
rational  planning  can  be  attempted.  This  is  a  considerable 
task  covering  a  wide  range.  It  involves  the  making  of  a 
planning  survey  or  group  of  surveys.  Such  a  survey  must 
gather  not  only  physiographio  but  social  and  economic 

'  "The  city  i^uuiiac  oommiMknt  is  tlw  ciemHit  whish  rapidiM  a  viritm 
oftime,  siMuseuuliiroportioaiiialleidof  nmtiiw;  .  .  .  it  ■iwald  be  oom- 
plementory  to  Mnne  fotoee,  mpf^emaBtUfy  to  otlun."  —  Hon.  Wiuiam 
A.  Magu, Buyw  of  Plttebaii^  on  "The  OifMiiMtioa  and  Fonetknui  of 
a  City  Planning  CommiHion,"  in  Proe-dinga  of  Mc  Fifth  Natitmi  Cim- 
fertnee  on  City  Plmuting  (1918),  l>p.  7ft-03. 

*  This  and  Tarioos  o&«  raattos  ecraoeeted  vith  the  e<HBpos!ti(m  and 
powera  of  planning  boarda  are  diaouaMd  in  tiie  Pnemiingi  if  the  iShwrIA 
tfational  Conferenie  «n  Cilg  Maiuting  (li)15). 


Iiooalidan- 


46       PRINCIPIJM  OF  mmiClPAL  JJMDXUmKTiaH 

mftterial  m  w«1L    It  dioald  inelud«  cUU  ooaeeniiag  tmry 
type  of  earting  pubHc  property,  iuch  u  ttroeto,  pMki,  p«ibU« 
buadins^  aU  pubUc  •ervicee  wich  m  tramportation,  Uf^ting, 
and  water  supply,  atwell  aa  infonnation  about  the  dktributiofi 
of  population  and  industries,  the  housing  of  the  people^the 
constitutional  and  legal  restrictions  upon  the  dty's  powers, 
and,  finaUy,  the  present  and  pro^iective  financial  resouroea 
of  the  city.    The  first  duty  of  a  city-planning  board  is,  in  a 
word,  to  create  its  own  arcMvea  or  general  depo«tory  of 
accurate  information.*    Some  of  this  can  be  had  easi^ 
from  existing  municipal  or  stete  records,  but  much  of  it 
must  be  secured  at  first  hand.    Figures  which  are  more  tlum 
two  or  tiiree  years  old  are  not  of  great  vahie  in  rapidty 
growing  towns.   It  wiU  be  found  that  meet  dties  are  strangely 
deficient  even  in  accurate  data  concerning  their  own  property. 
It  is  a  very  poorly  managed  private  business  that  does  not 
make  an  inventory  at  least  once  a  year,  but  it  is  a  rare  dty 
that  does  anything  of  the  sort.    The  consequence  is  that 
simple  stetistics  and  infonnation  which  ought  to  be  readily 
at  hand  are  often  altogether  lacking.* 

Even  when  the  replanning  project  applies  to  a  very  small 
area  the  survey  is  a  necessary  first  step.  Suppose,  for  ex- 
ample, that  certain  changes  in  some  public  square  are  con- 

>  D«tdtod  lUtement.  of  the  prdinilii«y  iMt«W  aMded^^ 
in  J.  8.  Fray's  "Survey  for  a  City  Plan,"  in  I^"**"*?*  itrcMtoelyt.  ▼.  W». 
6-14  (October.  1914).  and  in  the  lUpart  i^'^MggtiUi^^fProiM, 
lubmitted  to  the  Oty  Plan  CommiMon  ol  Jmey  City  l^  Umm.  OooO- 
rich  and  Ford.  May  1, 1913,  ^.  ^^ 

» "A  knowledge  rf  the  faete  is  tiw  ifaret  teqafannent.  and  the  bade  for 
a  dty  plan  mnrt  be  a  eity  nirvey  eotrctinc  inf«ma«wn  '^'o'''.^^^ 
of  fact :  the  flr«t  of  thew  aw  the  faeU  of  the  f^^^^^^^^S^^  ^T^ 
people  of  the  dty;  the  leoond  are  the  ■oeiaH^eto  eoaewidt  the  peogie 
thraiaelvei  and  the  reaetiona  between  tiwm  mi  Uwlr  phy<e>lw.»wiuuwi 
the  third  are  the  eoonomie  and  flnaafdal  faete  a«  to  the  reeoHToee  of  tBe  ewB- 

munity  and  the  poedble  -^  «u  z  of  brinfiiis  theee  leeouieea  to  bearnpoa 
pablks  imiaovemente;  ti*-  .arth  are  the  faete  aa  to  tte  iV^ud  •^ 
SinistmtiTe  conditions  wWoh  must  be  "ctamed  with  ^ /^  »*^  *? 
oontrol  the  phyiioal  envirotiment."  —  F.  L.  Oumtto.  A  Q^  ™^S 
Progrwn,"  in  Pne-dinf  <^  the  Fifth  NaUm^  Ctmfmrmu»  M  Ci^  *•'■"""» 
(1913),  p.  11. 


OITT  FlaAllinilO 


«r 


tcmpUlMl  ud  it  Is  dcrinbte  to  know  whetlMr  thaw  would 
or  would  not  sppeitf  to  eoiaddo  wHh  tho  uMiiute  nquif»- 
menti  of  the  nd^borbood.  What  pidiiniiiuy  d«to  would 
be  neoMMiy  for  »  propw  itttdy  ol  thst  <|U«tkmr  A  food 
many  kinds  of  infonnfttioa  wouU  be  nquifed.  Moie 
gpedfiedly,  the  pUuining  suthoiities  would  need  maps 
showing  sU  streeU  in  the  yieinity,  the  loestion  of  eurb  snd 
buUding  lines,  of  water  sad  sewer  mains,  wire  conduits,  and 
•11  other  utilities  under  the  streets,  as  well  as  the  situation 
of  all  tracks,  poles,  hydrants,  catd^basins,  and  other  fi>- 
tuiessetinoruponthesurfaoe.  Data  regarding  traffic,  all 
properly  classified,  should  also  be  obtained  by  means  of  a 
traffic  census.  The  nature  and  assessed  value  of  all  parcels 
of  contiguous  private  property  must  further  be  ascertained, 
with  figures  as  to  the  volume  of  business  done,  the  pofmlap 
tion  housed,  and  the  taxes  jMid  by  the  immediate  ndghbor- 
hood.  Theee  thinp  are  aU  neoeasaij  before  one  can  dete^ 
mine  whether  the  locality  presents  any  special  problem  or 
difficulty,  as  so  many  tocalities  do.  I^ce  there  is  scarce^ 
any  focus  of  business  w  traffic  in  a  city  that  does  not  have 
its  own  individuality,  nothing  could  be  more  unfortunate 
than  that  planning  wthoiities  should  try  to  meet  the 
demands  of  particular  nei^boihoods  by  the  application  of 
general  rules. 

The  survey  completed,  or  at  least  the  essential  data 
gathered,  the  next  step  is  to  anticipate  so  far  as  possible  JJJ 
future  lines  of  normal  growth  and  to  agree  upon  the  order 
or  urgency  in  which  various  problems  connected  with  this 
growth  are  likely  to  present  themselves.  This  is  a  branch 
of  work  that  calls  for  the  exercise  of  great  prudence,  for 
the  extent  and  direction  of  city  growth  are  proverbially 
hard  to  forecast.  Yet  forecasting  there  must  be  in  some 
measure;  the  very  idea  of  planning  involves  it.  On  the 
relative  urgency  of  various  problems  there  will  also  be  room 
for  differoEice  of  opinion.  To  one  man  the  planning  of  new 
subways,  to  anothor  the  cleaning  of  the  dums,  to  a  third 


49       FRiNC^KJM  or  MRIHK^IFAL   \I»IINIIfrRAT10N 


(he  dtvtkxjpmmi  of  U»  mtar  Inst,  to  *  f(»if(b  tlte  avdii- 
toctuml  improv^EieQt  of  tlm  {wineqiiU  tiumra^arai  Umrai^ 
lumtation  of  buil<iing  iwigiits,  -  -  to  each  his  own  ]»oiwl 
Beenu  ihe  one  that  dwnands  instant  aitenUon.  Th«  ptui> 
ning  imatd  i  m  inakt  sure  progroM  only  by  hantning  on« 
thing  at  a  Hmm,  vet  H  m  lat  trwt  each  erne  in  articulation 
with  a  hundrmi  othen.  The  atody  (tf  vahoua  iwoUemamiial 
aoeordini^  be  o&med  forwafd  toge(h«-,  and  the  atdutioa 
<A  one  cannot  be  lootei  for  «eept  in  ^onneelicHi  with  » 
proper  disposition  of  th(<  othOTS.  A  city  |d&n,  as  hae  ^)eai 
w«tt  said,  is  a  U  of  orgaotsm,  i  irmwing  and  gradual^ 
•^Hi^QK  ^gKKgiiu.'Q  of  Merntsd  uleas  or  projects,  al 
consistent  with  each  othtt  md  H»^  ^urvi^ing  not  only  hy 
virtue  of  iv  own  in'ier^  mm^  )  by  rMson  of  it*  ht  - 
wacmy  with  le  rest.' 
It  cannot  he  too  oft^  sf^»^^  i  ^  »  dty  plan  is 
Whatadty  not  El  milffla  lo  tiuu  Eve^  «4  re  of  ii  'Ottkl  be  <q;Mtt 
tc  niouificatu  11  as  ttu  imd  peare,  and  a  nange  in  one 
f(  ..ore  muKi  be  esqoe-Tted  u.>  invdve  ohanflss  in  othoa. 
Tlie  plan  dKi  Id,  -orthdess,  cover  in  a  jMOvisional  way 
a  great  many  tin  4^  md  should  pnqpeily  adjust  eaeb  one 
to  all  th^  others.  First  and  most  important  must  he  ti ; 
provision  for  vfh&  may  be  termed  the  futuz«  "m«»t  J 
cam  ion."  Tia  brings  fwwani  the  whole  prob^ 
teanspurtation  traffic,  whether  by  water,  rail,  Ytk. 

or  <m  foot.    (M  ail  the    aiious  phases  oi  dty  devdopmei^ 


plMtihoold 
inehide. 


>  F   L.  Oliusk        A  City  PUuminff  FMpam  "  Cm  sbom,  p.  4Q).    Tha 
Mop<   tf »  dty  jAaa  mb  be  bwrt  uodantMd  by  •  ■todjr  of  OM  or  mon  «f 


tiie  pl«  that  hr<  /e  baan  prqiusd  ^hiriat  the  taMt  t«  ynn  bjr 
Ameri  ncitiM.  J«)deaam'^m$g»:  B$firt9»mPUmfie8mmPrmMto$,^ 
H  irnhuDudE.H.  B«mittCBtaBFtaHMino,t90B):  iK^ffm/ir 
Lo.  publiriiedby  theChrtaliMMtiw  cf  Bt  LoafaCSt  Loak,  1907);  Jb- 
IK>r<  nf  the  MattaekvntUt  CommiMJoM  «n  Mttnr''*litii-^  tmfnmmmU  (BortOBt 
imh^i ;  th(  '^}dn  oj  CMeoft,  pwpswd  oadw  Um  samfew  ol  tbs  GUosfB 
C^munerci  nub  (CUracD.  1900) ;  sad  Wadm^B  itmmd  ^  Om  PUm  ^ 
CitUatu  ,tni  '  T  -  '- '  oody,  Chicago,  1912).  CSty  ptua  ivn  ilm  baea  pn^ 
IMu«d in N^  v.,  (1910), PtttriMm^  (1910), Saattia  (1911),  BoBbwlM' 
(t911).  Hi^  rd  (1912),  NewariE  (191S),  Bria  (1018).  AUmv  (19t#. 
Bridgaport  (ldl5).  and  in  other  dtiaa. 


ai; 


iMiil 


oiTT  ruaamm  40 

thif  k  the  hum*  difieuH  to  plm  la  Mhruioe,  but  it  is  tt  tlM 
MOM  time  the  moet  impoztant.  Then  emnee  idtaUe  pro- 
vision for  sn  sdequste  future  wftter  iitppty  and  for  an  eat* 
pansive  ssnitstion  siystem.  Hie  proper  loestiMi  of  publio 
buildings,  parks,  and  pbusm  of  reereation  must  also  have 
consideration,  and  many  stnietures  of  a  sttni-puUie  nature 
should  be  rif^tly  placed  or  the  ptd>lie  o(mTenieiwe  will  not 
be  fully  served.  Again,  varraus  ]m)jeete  of  legiriative  bet- 
terment diould  find  inoorporation  in  a  dty  jdan,  such  as  the 
restriction  of  buikling  hd|^ts,  tiie  housins  regidati(»s,  and 
^e  rules  relatii^  to  bill-boards.  And,  finally,  thore  is  the 
difficult  yet  aHogethw  vital  mattor  of  detennining  tlM  hoft 
of  financial  questiims  which  are  siire  to  arue  in  eonneeUon 
with  an  inojeots  of  civic  reconstruction.  A  dty  must  jdaa 
within  its  resmiroes,  and  to  do  this  it  must  first  determine 
what  its  resourees  are. 


TBAVnC  PLAMMIMO 

Nearly  all  the  worid's  large  dties  are  situated  upon 
nav^;able  waters.    Access  to  tide  water  is  the  most  im*  n« 
portant  nn|^e  asset  that  any  community  can  have,    l^th  ^ 
the  exc^on  of  the  nati(mal  cajutab,  almost  ev«y  Euro-  2S£io»A, 
pr-,1  city  of  first-class  rank  has  access  to  the  sm;  in  the 
United  States  the  cities  oi  over  ^)0,000  which  do  not  have 
a  navigable  watw  front  of  some  sore  can  be  counted  on  the 
fingers  of  one  hand,    llie  problem  of  making  the  wator 
front  do  full  service  is,  aoeordini^,  one  which  comes  for- 
ward in  nearfy  every  large  eoitre.*    It  includes  not  only 
dredging  the  harbor  but  providing  adequate  docks  and 
piers  for  the  handling  of  both  freif^t  and  passmger  traffic, 
as  wdl  as  bringing  these  into  convenient  rdation  with  the 
steam-  and  street-railway  systems.     Many  of  our  urban 

■  F.  L.  Ford,  "A  Study  of  imm  BtpgnwiUUT*  KotqpMa  Porto,"  ia 
Beport  gf  tkt  CvnneeHaa  Bivara  aitd  Hmhm*  Cwnwrfwion,  19II,  ^.  39-71. 
8m  stMCW.BUiitfotd'tJbywlM  He  PkyticMi  ChanOmtMa  *  Ew 
pym  SmftnU,  kmntA  by  th>  DB|>MtUMiit      "^      =  and  Fp-t4*- "       ^ -k 


80     pwncipijES  of  municipal  administration 


l.ii 


traffic  difficulties  arise  from  the  fact  that  systems  of  water 
and  land  transportation  have  not  been  developed  in  suffix 
dently  close  coordination  with  each  other.    Communicar 
tion  between  docks  and  terminals,  for  instance,  sometimes 
involves  heavy  teaming  through  crowded  thoroue^ares ; 
and  the  matter  of  using  the  local  waterways  for  intra-urbaa 
passenger  transportation  has  been  almost  everywhere  neg- 
lected.   Some  Eu.  pean  cities,  notably  Paris,  have  d». 
veloped  the  local  transportation  of  passengers  by  water  to 
such  extent  as  to  render  it  an  important  factor  in  general 
transit  facilities.    Very  few  American  cities  are  so  situated 
as  to  make  this  policy  feasible,  but  few«  still  have  ever 
investigated  their  possibilities  in  that  direction.    The  sub- 
ject of  port  development  has,  it  is  true,  been  recdving  a 
great  deal  of  attention  from  many  American  states  and 
cities  during  the  last  dosen  years,  usually  at  the  bands  of 
special  harbor  boards  or  port  authorities.    The  tremendous 
strides  made  by  such  cities  as  Hamburg,  Glasgow,  and 
Montreal,  as  a  direct  outcome  of  improved  port  facilities, 
have  convinced  us  that  monqr  invested  in  harbor  improve- 
ments is  money  well  spent.    But  the  real  problems  are  iMt 
merely  those  of  dredging  channels  or  building  concrete  pienk 
They  concwn  themselves  very  intimately  with  the  bringing 
of  land-  and  water-borne  commnce  into  lull  articulati(m; 
they  are  closely  related  to  the  raiboad  and  streeVrailway 
situations,  as  well  as  to  all  other  branches  of  hij^way  and 
traffic  administration.    Hence  they  form  an  essential  part 
of  the  general  city  plan, 
aty  planning,  if  it  is  to  be  of  real  service,  must  aim  lo 
RidboMi«-  provide  railroads  with  proper  access  to  the  city  and  he^ 
*"""      '      them  to  solve  the  difficidt  question  of  oonvoiient  twminali. 
Hwe  again  the  public  convenience  has  suff««d  on  bolk 
sides  of  the  Atlwitic  from  the  haphasard  way  in  whkk 
these  facilities  have  been  allowed  to  devdop.    LonckMti 
Paris,  and  Berlin,  each  with  a  half-dosen  ill-eonneeted  Uf 
minals,  are  at  least  no  bettor  off  in  this  respect  than  N« 


triMuid 


CITT  PLANNIMQ 


51 


ThatM^ 
miaal  prab* 
lent  ia  on*  of 


York;  Chicago,  or  Boston.  When  several  railroads  enter  a 
city  from  varioiis  directions  and  place  their  terminals  at  dif- 
ferent points  with  no  connecting  links  between,  it  must  be 
obvious  that  the  cost  of  transferring  freight  and  passengers 
from  one  to  another  not  only  involves  an  enormous  expense 
each  year,  but  greatly  hampers  the  free  flow  of  traffic.  In 
the  earlier  stages  of  city  growth  it  would  have  been  easy 
and  cheap  to  provide  union  terminals ;  to-day  the  expense  of 
establishing  them  often  puts  such  projects  beyond  the  bounds 
of  possibility.  Yet  something  can  be  done  to  lessen  the  in- 
convenience which  the  existing  situation  creates.  One  step, 
costly  but  serviceable,  as  New  York's  experience  shows,  lies 
in  establishing  imderground  connection  between  terminals. 
From  its  very  nature,  however,  this  terminal  question  is 
one  of  the  most  difficult  among  ihe  many  perplexing  prob- 
lems of  modem  transportation.^  A  terminal  requires  a 
large  area  of  land,  not  only  for  stations,  but  for  sheds  and  J^.*"*" 
car-storage  space.  To  serve  the  public  convenience  it  must 
be  located  in  the  very  centre  of  things,  easy  of  access  from 
all  parts  of  the  dty.  Yet  land  in  the  very  centre  of  things 
is  enormously  expeaudye,  and  the  burdms  which  fall  upon 
the  railways  by  reason  of  large  terminal  expenses  are  a 
considerable  factor  in  the  general  cost  of  transportation. 
A  central  terminal,  moreover,  means  tiiat  all  trains  must 
come  rij^t  down  into  the  vitaJi  of  the  city.  As  the  day  of 
grade  crossings  is  rafadly  passing,  the  co«t  of  providing  an 
exclusive  right-of-way  for  railroad  tracks  makes  a  stup«i- 
dous  item,  not  to  speak  of  the  objectionable  features  in  the 
way  of  noise  and  smoke  and  dust  which  the  community 
must  necessarily  tolerate  when  trains  are  brought  into  a 
central  terminal.  The  eleetiification  of  railroad  approadios, 
if  such  a  policy  becomes  general,  will  solve  this  latter  por- 
tion of  the  problem,  bat  not  the  whole  of  it.' 

*  S.  O.  Dunn.  "The  Flrol^a  of  th*  Modon  IVrmiiisl.''  ia  SerOiMr'* 
Magaaim,  M.  41»-4tt  (CKftobv,  1913). 

'Tht  bMt  •hart  «nBMiMi  of  this  loMMt  b  r.  A.  Ddwo'i  srtlato  oa 
"lUOway  Tao^bib  is  theb  Bdi^tt  to  CUf  Piad^Bg,"  la  ti»  Sngtneer' 


■If 


Thestreet- 

nUway 

piui. 


il 


62       PRINCIPLB8  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINIOTIUTION 

Then  there  is  the  question  of  efficient  intra-dty  tran*. 
portation.    The  surface  troUey  came  into  use  long  after 
most  of  ;he  streets  in  large  cities  had  been  constructed  and 
their  borders  buUt  upon.    It  hud  a  new  and  heavy  burden 
upon  thoroughfares  which  were  none  too  wide  already.    In 
most  cities,  accordingly,  the  car  lines  have  been  put  upon 
the  streets  that  could  carry  them  with  a  minimum  of  obstruc- 
tion to  general  traffic,  rather  than  upon  the  streets  where 
they  would  best  serve  the  pubUc  needs.    Where  a  different 
poUcy  has  been  foUowed,  that  is,  where  the  car  lines  have 
been  located  on  narrow  business  thoroughfares  in  order 
that  passengers  may  be  brought  straight  into  the  topping 
districts,  the  streets  so  traversed  have  become  of  little  use 
for  anything  else.    Congestion  of  traffic  in  the  down-town 
districts  has  accordingly  forced  the  transit  companies  in  ths 
largest  cities  to  build  elevated  or  underground  routes  of 
travel,  an  expedient  which  has  involved  a  rearrangement  of 
surface  routes.    It  is  in  this  connection  that  the  opportunity 
for  careful  planning  arises.*    There  is  no  good  reason  why 
a  city's  subway  system  should  not  be  mapped  out  as  a  whole, 
provided  of  course  that  the  plans  are  not  made  inflexible. 
More  thought  and  attention  have,  in  fact,  been  given  to 
planning  in  this  field  than  in  any  other.    The  way  in  which 
Chicago  has  studied  and  arranged  for  its  future  system  of 
underground  trafl&c  is  a  notable  illustration.*    But  where 
cities  are  growing  rapidly  there  must  always  be  ample 

ino  Rtemd,  be.  68»-(M8  (December  18.  IflOO).    There  to  »  grMt  ded  el 
OMful  MteriRl  in  Bion  J.  Araold'e   Report  f*^***  ^f^T""**;!;!?!^ 

1013) 

« sU  the  various  pi^Mn  on  "The  Ciraolation oT  PMMinewWftyt 
in  ReUUon  to  the  Oty  Plwi."  by  Netoon  P.  Lewfa  ud  otihen,  in  ''we^J*"^ 
(^  the  Second  Sational  Conferetu»  on  CUy  PlanMnf  (»10),  pp.  113-18B, 
Zm  the  chapter  on  "Main  ThorwifhffcMB  and  BtiMt  R^'W  ^y  B.  A. 
Halrfeman.  in  John  Noieo'i  HmAook  af  City  PUmnbti  <N«w  Y«*\i*!z; 
T^^^St  to  more  fully  dt.lt  irith  in  Paul  Wittif '•  DU  WelUUit,  mi 
•  \  ,.'>:<  -Ueke  SehuUporMr  (Berlin.  IflW).  -  ,„^. 

P       J.  Arnold,  BMommmdaiioiu  mtd  O'^'^/^J^  ^'!S!n 
Im---  ■  Paaeenger  SiAwaw  SytUm  for  the  City  cf  Chkato  {Chteag^.  W"). 


^ 


CITY  PLANNING 


88 


provision  for  changes  as  the  pressure  of  congestion  shifts 
from  point  to  point.  To  look  far  oiough  ahead  in  dealing 
with  this  problem  will  be  the  means  of  saving  millions  to 
posterity. 

The  arrangement  of  city  streets  in  such  way  that  they 
may  best  take  care  of  vehicle  and  foot  traffic  is  another  Jj^ilL 
important  branch  of  city  planning.'  In  all  large  cities,  it  thmmdom. 
is  true,  the  time  has  gone  by  when  any  wholesale  rearrange- 
ment of  the  down-town  streets  can  be  looked  for.  These 
must  remain,  for  the  most  part,  as  they  are.  But  new  subur- 
ban arras  are  constantly  bdng  opened,  and  here  the  oppor^ 
tunity  is  unlimited.  Tliese  suburban  districts  are  usually 
ovmed  by  land-devdopment  companies  whose  chief  aim  is 
to  sell  the  property  to  private  buyers  at  good  prices.  If  it 
u  left  to  private  owners  to  determine  the  extent  and  arrange- 
ment of  the  street  facilities,  the  planning  is  not  likely  to  :  >: 
done,  as  a  general  rule,  in  a  way  thet  will  serve  the  ulti- 
mate best  interests  of  the  entire  city.  One  of  the  most 
useful  ends  that  a  city-planning  board  can  serve  is  to  make 
certain  that  new  districts  are  platted  on  principles  more 
fundamental  than  those  which  guide  the  ordinary  land 
speculator.  This,  of  course,  cannot  be  accomplished  by  the 
application  of  rules  set  forth  in  the  provisions  of  any  statute 
or  ordinance.  Every  new  area  presents  its  own  problems 
and  possibilities. 

The  gridiron  plan,  which  has  oft«i  commended  itself  to 
those  whose  fvmction  it  is  to  plat  the  streets  in  the  tmde-  |**"^°* 
veloped  or  outlying  areas  of  American  cities  because  it  takes 
a  minimum  of  land  for  street  purposes  and  because  it  nuikes 
all  the  building  lots  of  convenient  rectangular  shape,  iuts 
some  serious  defects.  The  most  important  of  these  has  al- 
ready been  pointed  out,  namely,  the  extent  to  which  it 

■  Special  studies  of  this  nibjeet  »ra  C.  M.  RoMaioii't  Widlk  and  Ar- 
rangtment  of  StreeU  (Naw  YoA,  1011);  Ifaqrmoiid  Unwin's  Town  Plan- 
ning in  Praetiee  (London,  1911),  oh.  vii;  and  B.  A.  HaldmiLMi't  pi^Mr, 
"The  Pluinint  of  aty  Mnetm"  in  PncmHnft  tf  Ou  Enfimtun'  Cl«b  4 
PkUadd^^tia,  as.  143-171  (Apiit.  1013).    8h  abo  b^w,  pp.  80-S5. 


64       PRINCIPLES  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


How  itlMl 
fllMBM 

architee- 
tim. 


increases  the  distances  necessarily  covered  in  getting  from 
one  point  in  a  city  to  almost  any  other.    The  plan  is  also 
thought  by  some  to  be  a  considerable  factor  in  traffic  con- 
gestion, in  that  it  brings  street  vehicles  into  contact  at 
right  angles  wherever  the  thoroughfares  intersect.     One 
need  only  watch  the  intersecting  streams  of  traffic  at  tlw 
comer  of  Fifth  Avenue  and  Forty-Second  Street  in  New 
York  City,  for  example,  to  realise  the  problem  that  arisef 
from  such  a  situation.    On  the  other  hand,  it  is  extremdy 
doubtful  whether  any  other  than  a  right-angled  scheme  of 
street  intersection  would  not  really  make  our  traffic  prob- 
lems worse  instead  of  better.    The  easy-flowing  junctiou 
which  our  landscape  arohitects  have  preferred  in  park  drives 
because  they  are  graceful  and  expressive  are  now  becoming 
in  many  cases  excessively  dangerous  with  the  amount  of 
high-speed  traffic  which  swings  through  them.    The  best 
authorities  on  city  planning  are  rapidly  coming  back  to  th« 
opinion  that  the  straight  rectangular  intersection,  with  all  iti 
apparent  defects,  is  in  the  long  run  the  best  way  of  getting 
two  streams  of  traffic  across  each  other,  and  this  whether 
the  traffic  be  light  and  rapid  or  heavy  and  slow.    This  is  a 
point  which  deserves  emphasis,  because  in  popular  discus- 
sions the  sins  of  the  rectangular  comer  as  a  traffic  impedi- 
ment have  had  a  very  prominent  place. 

A  really  grave  defect  of  this  street  arrangement,  howevw, 
is  the  arohitectural  limitation  which  it  imposes  upon  a  com- 
munity. The  rectangular  street  plan  generally  means  that 
building  lots  are  all  rectangular  and  of  the  same  shape  and 
depth.  A  narrow  frontage  on  the  street  with  a  more  libend 
depth  is  the  usual  arrangemmt.  All  comas  ue  set  square 
to  the  curb.  The  result  is  that,  when  an  anhiteet  attempts 
to  make  full  use  of  the  lot  (as  the  owner  expects  bim  to  do), 
the  situation  leaves  little  opportunity  for  the  eanrase  of  orig- 
inality.   To  this  factor  is  due  in  large  dep«e  the  itratiBe 

architeetiural  character  of  so  maiQr  streets,  particukify  in  th* 
residential  seetiims  of  American  dtiea.    If  the  ardiiteetnn 


m 


CITT  PLANNINO 


w 


of  our  cities  is  ever  to  be  versatile,  as  it  is  abroad,  we  must 
get  away  from  the  everlasting  rectangle  in  our  building  lots. 
This  means  that  we  must  secure  some  dq>arture8  from  the 
square-cornered  street  plan.  Public  buildings  alone  can- 
not make  a  city  beautiful.  Private  ownws  must  cooperate, 
and  to  do  so  they  must  have  both  opportunity  and  induce- 
ment. Informality  in  street  planning  permits  the  platting 
of  building  lots  in  irregular  shapes,  thereby  allowing  some 
scope  to  an  architect's  originality,  as  has  been  so  freely 
shown  in  the  so-termed  "garden  cities"  abroad.  All  these 
things  should  be  kept  in  mind  when  new  urban  areas  are 
planned  or  old  sections  reconstructed. 

Lack  of  planning  foresi^^t  has  resulted,  again,  in  placing 
on  the  streets  many  objects  which  are  not  only  eyesores  2;;^*" 
but  serious  impediments  to  traffic.  Poles  supporting  trolley 
wires  are  set  at  close  intervals  along  the  curbs  on  nearly 
all  of  our  crowded  thoroughfares.  These  wires  can  quite 
as  well  be  sup;  '.ed  from  anchorages  in  the  walls  of  build- 
ings on  each  side  of  the  street,  and  in  the  beginning  this 
method  would  have  cost  no  more.  At  or  near  street  comers, 
where  traffic  is  dense,  various  other  poles  are  usually  placed 
in  needless  profusion.  Separate  posts  are  often  used  to 
cany  telephone,  electri&4ighting,  and  fire-alarm  wires,  to 
afford  a  place  for  patrol-boxes,  or  even  to  bear  street  names. 
Much  of  this  int^raence  with  traffic  space  could  have  been 
avoided  by  the  most  elementary  sort  of  planning.  It  must 
be  remembered,  moreover,  that  evwy  one  of  these  poles, 
from  the  viewpoint  of  space  wastage,  counts  for  far  more 
than  the  inches  actually  used  by  it.  Traffic  has  to  circle 
round  it  so  far  that  eveiy  street  post  means  at  least  a  whole 
square  yard  of  wasted  traffic  spaee.  One  need  only  notice 
the  untrodden  ring  that  engirdles  every  post  after  a  li^t 
snowfall  to  be  impressed  with  this  fact.  As  much  as 
20  or  even  30  per  cent  of  the  entire  sidewalk  area  may  be 
tal^i  up  by  obstadea  of  tiie  sort  just  mentioned. 

Then  there  are  the  eneroaohments  whidi  private  owners 


Mliaii 


M       PRINCIPLES  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


Etanweh- 
Brat  by 
pthrkte 
ownm. 


aabtcm- 


make  upon  the  public  thoroug^ares  through  the  erecti<m 
of  projecting  windows,  casements,  bulkheads,  street  clocks^ 
and  so  forth.  The  street  clock,  which  is  merely  an  adver> 
tising  device  usurping  public  property  under  color  of  catw- 
ing  to  popular  convenience,  is  one  of  the  worst  offenders. 
On  the  busiest  retail  street  in  Boston  there  are  several  o) 
them  within  a  distance  of  a  half-mile,  each  set  squarely  in 
the  zone  of  dense  pedestrian  traffic*  Awnings,  marquises, 
illuminated  signs,  and  various  other  projections,  not  to  speak 
of  the  network  of  wires,  althou^  th^  are  all  put  over  the 
heads  of  traffic  and  do  not  directly  interfere  with  it,  are 
none  the  less  private  encroachments  on  public  domain. 
They  render  the  streets  unsightly  and  at  times  interfere 
seriously  with  the  work  of  the  fire  department.  Both  the 
utility  and  the  artistic  aspect  of  our  city  streets  can  be 
greatly  improved  by  the  framing  of  strict  and  comprdiensive 
rules  regarding  these  things. 

Underground  circulation  in  the  streets  of  the  modem 
city  has  come  to  be  nearly  as  important  to  tiie  intoests  ot 
the  whole  community  as  circulation  on  the  surface  itsdf.* 
Surface  traffic  can  be  diverted  somewhere  else  when  occa- 
sion requires,  but  the  network  of  things  under  the  street 
cannot  be  so  easily  shifted.  Most  pedestrians  do  nqt 
realize  what  a  chaos  of  pipes  and  conduits  lies  under  ev«y 
street  level,  —  water  mains,  sewers,  gas  ^pes,  wire  conduits, 
pneumatic  tubes,  subways,  not  to  mention  private  coal 
vaults  and  the  like.  As  a  rule  these  are  simply  placed  along 
whatever  happens  to  be  the  line  of  least  resistance,  with, 
little  or  no  r^;ard  for  what  is  likely  to  come  aitenraidt. 
The  result  ia  that,  whenever  any  important  piece  <rf  work 
must  be  done  beneath  the  street  surface,  most  of  tiie  pipes 
and  conduits  have  to  be  rdocated ;  yet,  strange  as  it  maif 

>  Boston  ChMnbw  of  Coaunane,  &rmt  Tnfie  im  Ot  CUp  ef  Beatm 
(Bortm,  1914). 

*  O.  8.  WolMter.  "SobtaRMMii  Stnet  Pluiri^,"  in  ilmMb  ti  lit 
AMtHem  Aeademn  «f  PoUHcal  und  SoeUl  AetaiM.  U  (iihol*  no.  lA 
Hmmnt  and  Town  PUumiii§,  IM4),  pp.  300-907. 


CITT  PLANNINO 


67 


i 


appear,  the  eiiy  rardy  has  adequate  maps  or  records  show- 
ing where  these  things  are  laid.  When  a  main  sewer  or  a 
subway  is  being  phomed  under  any  important  thorough- 
fare, it  often  becomes  necessary  to  make  at  large  expense 
deep  excavations  across  the  entire  width  of  the  street  at 
intervals  of  every  hundred  feet  or  so  to  obtain  accurate 
information  as  to  the  sub-surface  obstacles  that  are  likely 
to  be  encoimtered.  Tlie  available  area  for  these  various 
public  services  under  the  streets  has  been  greatly  diminished, 
moreover,  by  the  practice  of  allowing  private  owners  to 
build  vaults  under  the  entire  sidewalk  space  in  front  of  their 
properties.  Not  only  do  coal-bins  and  boiler-rooms  often 
occupy  this  space,  but  these  underground  locations  on  pub- 
lic property  are  frequently  rented,  for  the  profit  of  some 
private  individual,  as  barber  shops  or  bootblack  stands  or 
even  as  restaurants.  The  exercise  of  reasonable  foresight 
would  not  only  protect  the  city  against  the  heavy  outlays 
which  are  necessitated  from  time  to  time  by  the  relocat- 
ing of  pipes  and  conduits,  but  would  forestall  the  unwar- 
ranted use  of  public  property,  without  payment,  by  private 
owners. 

BECREAHON  PLANNDia 

Provision  must  also  be  made,  in  any  proper  planning 
programme,  for  parks,  squares,  playgrounds,  and  other  places 
of  recreation.'  There  are  two  g«ieral  types  of  city  park. 
First  in  importance  is  the  large  reservation,  usualty  in  the 
outer  areas  of  the  city  among  nei^boring  hills  or  including 
access  to  some  watoway  or  seashore.  Modem  planning 
aims  to  reserve  for  future  use  any  areas  of  natural  beauty 

>  The  standaRl  works  (m  tfate  mltjaet  an  CAmiDo  Sitto'i  Dtr  SMUhmM 
(Vi«ui»,  1900,  tmuiiktod  into  Wtmtiik  oadw  ths  titis  L'art  i»  UMr  In 
ritlM),  and  Bobart  BtmrA't  Lm  Jardtm$  M  fat  aniarM  (Paris,  1011). 
Mention  OtmM  ris»  b*  msdsof  lbs  (womisfsOB  "PubUs  FariM  "  wUA 
mn  wiittsB  1^  Fksdniek  Law  <MiBsts4  Br.,  maay  ymn  sfo  sad  w«« 
privately  pciated  ktw  (BraeUasb  Mass..  1908).  llMsa  m*  sim  of  ffsat 
oaafubiass.  There  is  a  |ood  ehivter  on  "The  FtaaaiaK  of  Sqmns  aad 
Open  Spaoes"  in  H.  I.  Tl^gs's  Tnm  PImtmtmi  (Lmdon.  1900),  ftp.  271-337. 


FMksaad 


58       PRINCIPLB8  OF  MUNICIPAL  AOMINISTIUTION 


r 

11 


or  attractiveness  which  the  rapidly  growing  dty  may  h$,y 
near  by.  In  thit  respect  Boston  has  probably  a  better* 
planned  and  more  admirably  organised  park  qrstem  than 
any  other  city  in  Uie  worid.  It  includes  the  Middlesex 
Fells,  the  Blue  Hills  Reservation,  as  well  as  the  Revere, 
Nantasket,  and  Nahant  beaches,  —  a  heritage  that  is  largely 
the  result  of  sagacious  planning  a  generation  ago.^  Hm 
other  general  tsrpe  of  park  is  the  down-town  public  arei^ 
whether  it  be  a  common  or  a  formal  recreation  groundi 
and  whether  it  comprise  the  large  tract  or  only  the  smaQ 
neighborhood  park.  Of  these  small  parks  our  dtiee  have 
far  too  few ;  they  are  most  needed  in  the  congested  dis* 
tricts,  but  to  provide  them  in  such  sections  of  the  city  is  a 
"ery  expensive  matter.'  The  playground  presents  a  special 
problem  in  city  planning,  but  as  it  is  closely  related  to  the 
work  of  school  administration  it  will  be  touched  upon  later. 
One  must  not  overlook,  again,  the  proper  arrangonent  of 
trees  on  residential  streets.  Unless  adequate  attrition  k 
given  to  this  feattire,  the  best  neighborhoods  will  lose  ill 
attractiveness. 


CHyUoeka 
•ndlotai 


PLANNmO  OF  BniU>INO  LOIB 

The  size,  shape,  and  topography  of  dty  blocks  and  build- 
ing lots  present  another  important  phase  of  dty  planning. 
In  most  American  cities  the  business  or  rendential  block  is 
from  four  hundred  to  nine  hundred  feet  in  length  and  from 
two  hundred  to  foiur  hundred  feet  in  depth.  Between  these 
eztreme»  dties  show  great  variation.    The  long  block  is  a 

>The  beginidoci  of  th*  qdwdid  paric  sad  boobrwd  ayitam  <d  th* 
Boston  metropoUUa  diatriet  wen  iMgdy  da«  to  th*  foraii^t  asd  aUU  of 
OiariM  EUot,  bodnikiM  anbitAet.  They  tn  modMtly  dHtribad  ia  tk* 
weU-kaown  Mocnidiy  by  Ua  father,  Charioa  W.  Bliet  (Boaton,  190^ 
Details  al  the  (lowth  of  the  syrtem  auor  be  fooad  in  tba  raporta  «(  tt» 
MatH)p(JitaaPartOominiariono<Maa»oh«aet>a.  vVUAtAuuauaftlmm 

18M. 

*  See  the  papers  m  "PnUie  Reoeatfoa  Fa^tfea,"  1^  J(te  Ndan  and 
others,  in  AnnmU  of  lAs  itmerieati  Aeodssiy  af  PaUttcai  and  SoeM  Beimm, 
317-M8  (Manh,  1910). 


OITT  PLAMNmO 


M 


■ouree  of  traffic  eongwtioii  in  downtown  tnu  and  fa  in 
other  ways  objectionabto.    Equally  undemraWe  fa  the  ab- 
normally deep  block,  for  tenement*  with  an  alleyway  en- 
trance are  Uable  to  grow  up  in  the  interior,  providing  shelter 
for  crime  and  immorality.    The  eonfigoration  of  the  block 
is  also  important,  because  it  uwially  determines  the  sfae  of 
the  normal  building  lot.*    In  businesa  areas  such  a  lot 
generaUy  has  a  frontage  of  fifty  feet  or  more ;  in  compact 
residential  sections  it  has  leM,  in  suburban  districts  more. 
In  depth  building  loto  range  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  and 
fifty  feet,  or  even  more ;  the  lot  fa  ordinarity  half  the  dqrth 
of  the  block,  or  somewhat  less  if  there  fa  an  alleyway  in  the 
rear.    For  most  reasonable  demands,  whether  in  businesa 
or  in  residential  sections,  a  dq[)th  of  (me  hundred  feet  or 
even  less  fa  quite  raffident;  mon  thm  thfa  allowance 
fa  Uable  to  result  in  the  unprofitable  use  of  yahiable 
land.    As  will  be  pointed  out  later,  two  thirda  of  the 
entire  value  of  a  lot  fa  ordinarily  comprised  within  the 
front  h^  of  it.     Some  of  the  worrt  of  our  housing 
problems,  that  of  the    "back  tenement,"  for  example, 
have  arisen  from  the  lack  of  proper  planning  in  relatioa 
to  blocks  and  lota. 


FLAMNIMO  rtm  FDBUO  BUIIAINat 

City  planning  has  also  to  do  with  the  location  of  pubUe 
structures.*  Thfa  does  not  mean  that  all  public  buildings 
ought  eventually  to  be  located  together;  such  a  policy 
would,  from  the  very  naturo  of  things,  prove  neither  prac- 
ticable nor  desirable.    From  the  viewpoint  of  well-planned 

>  LawraMM  YvSOk,  "BnOdiaii  ia  Itofattkm  to  Strati  «ad  »ta,"  in  Pro- 
etiiingt  tf  tiu  Tkkd  Nmliami  Ctn/mmm  m  Citt  Pimmi»§  aMl).  IV-  80* 
117 

»F.  L.  Pord,  •dKor.  Tht  anuftn§  if  PiMe  mMMma  QixaMp^  Art 
SodMty  of  Hartford.  BuOtHm,  No.  2,  HMtfotd.  100*).  J»»y»r.U. 
Day's  puMT  <^  "Tha  LoaatioB  o(  PnbUe  Bnildiiifa  ia  Fsris  and  Other 
PubBo  Opr  jaaa^"  ia  PfmHm§t  if  IJU  TMri  NiMmuA  CtmfmiMmjM 
cut  P<mn»><«  (IMl).  W-  »-»i  •^  ■"«»  Han's  vtlMa  oa"PiibHe 
Boildiiigt."  tWd.  43-60. 


ofpoUia 


eO      PRINdPLn  OP  MUNICIPAI.  ADMIMWHUTION 


WlnriM 
mmytf* 

pttbUa 

DttUdfallSiB 

thk< 


loeaticm  all  pubUe  bufldioKa  in*y  be  grouped  into  thne 
duMs.  Fint,  thoe  ue  thow  ■troeturw  which  oo^t  to 
have  ft  ritttfttion  thftt  b  earily  reftohed  from  all  pftrto  of  the 
diy,  —  the  city  hall,  the  poet-ofioe,  aiul  the  oourt-houM^ 
for  examine.  An  eaaily  aeeeaaible  looation  does  not,  hoir* 
ever,  neceeaarily  mean  a  situation  near  the  feogn^hied 
eentre  or  the  centre  of  population ;  owing  to  the  laynrat  of 
the  dty'a  transit  fadhties,  indeed,  it  often  happena  thi^ 
the  centre  of  public  convenience  is  eonsiderab^  removed 
from  the  geographical  eentre  of  the  munidpality.  This  is 
a  point  that  must  not  be  overlooked.  The  street-railway 
{dan  often  really  determines  the  centre  of  convenioit  aeoca 
in  a  dty.  The  rdativdy  few  public  buildings  iHiieh  coma 
within  this  first  dasB  may  well  be  so  located  as  ultimate^ 
to  form  a  dvic  group  at  or  near  this  eentre.  Hiey  may  be 
ranged  about  a  square,  as  in  Venice;  they  may  be  strong 
along  the  riv^  bank,  as  in  Paris;  or  they  may  ^rify  ft 
single  broad  avenue,  as  in  Beriin.*  Eaoh  structure,  tf 
property  designed,  will  lend  dignity  to  the  others;  bttt» 
apart  from  tUs  advantage,  the  ordinary  ecmsiderations  of 
public  convoiience  dictate  that  places  of  official  resort  b« 
placed  within  eaqr  distance  of  one  another. 

In  the  dties  of  this  country  such  grouping  has  beoi 
serioudy  attonpted  on  a  laige  scale  in  a  few  placet 
only, — for  example,  in  CSleveland  and  Denver,  —  thou^ 
s(«iewfaat  elaborate  plans  for  dvic  centres  have  bem  pr»> 
pared  in  many  other  dties.'  One  rMson  why  these  idaai 
are  not  carried  out  lies  in  the  fact  that  Uiree  or  four  distinct 
authorities  usually  have  a  diare  in  the  dioioe  of  Iocati<m  and 
rardy  consult  with  one  anoth^.    Tlie  national  government 

>C.  M-  RoUoaoa.  Tk»  Impnmiunt  </  C«Mw  tmi  Tawna  (N«w  ToHt, 
1011).  p.  37. 

*  8m  til*  BtpoH  la  Out  Mayor  md  Board  ef  PMie  ServiM  m  At  Omif 
Ptm  oj  tiU  PhWc  BvOMn^  i4  Of  City  of  OoMland,  by  D.  H.  BanhHU. 
J.  W.  CMrtn.  and  A.  W.  BnsuK  (ad  «d..  Omrduid.  IflOT).  IIm  ■» 
and  adama  thaa  wtUiiad  ia  faataf  ataadJly jwahad  ttamrijKmsMm. 
Tbit  County  BuiMiiig  snd  tlw  Fadanu  Btnlduic  ua  hhiihwi  {  t&a  Ct^ 
Hall b  aaaiily  ao;  tha  lilHn»y  BoiWac  ia  ondar  way. 


orrr  pLikNMiNO 


61 


leto  the  poiiKtfBee  in  (me  pUee,  the  eiMlrai^ottM  ia  uiotlMr, 
the  tttb-treeniry  in  a  third ;  the  itate  at  eountjr  atithoritiee 
mit  tlM  eottrt*houM  iomewhere  dee;  the  ei^,  in  Urn, 
k-utee  ito  ehief  munidpel  buildinfii,  raeh  ee  the  publio 
Hbruy  end  the  eity  hall,  at  atill  other  pdnta.  In  ahnoel 
every  eaie  pdittoal  preMure  hae  ita  influmoe,  far  nuwe 
attention  beinf  uiiiaily  paid  to  the  urginfi  of  thoee  who 
have  dtee  to  aeU  or  who  own  inroperty  in  the  nei^boihood 
tiuu  to  general  eonaiderationa  of  utili^  or  eoonraiy. 

Evoy  one  realise^  oi  eoune,  that  atmeturea  which  have 
many  yean  of  life  atill  left  in  them  oaanot  very  well  be  gjj*** 
pulled  down  or  abandoned  for  the  u3u  ai  ereating  boom  tfyttkat 
monumental  fdaaa  flanked  by  great  publie  buildinga  eaoh  "  """ 
harmoniiing  with  the  othera.    But  year  by  year  iome  pub- 
lie  edifice  beoomea  obadeeoeot  and  muat  be  refdaeed  by 
something  bettw,  umaQy  in  a  new  loeatitm.    That  te 
where  the  opportunity  for  patient  planning  eomea  in. 
One  by  one  theae  buildinp  eaa  be  aet  where  they  ou|ht 
to  be— in  aome  loeation  whieh  ia  at  onoe  apadoua,  aeoea- 
lible,  and  eapaUe  oi  ad(»nment. 

In  the  second  ]daee,  thoe  are  many  puUie  strueturea 
which  from  their  nature  and  uae  eannot  be  put  near  each  ?^.^ 
other.  There  are  the  adioolhouaea,  for  inatanee,  the  police  wfetahHi 
stationa,  the  fir»«igine  houaea,  the  branch  libmiee  and  "'"'^ 
gymnasiums.  Tlieae  must  be  aeattered  throufl^  Hm  various 
sections  of  the  cxty  in  aooordanoe  with  load  needa.  This 
does  not  mean,  howei^r,  that  arrangemmt  for  their  prop«r 
locations  diouM  be  outskb  the  range  of  dty-planning  work. 
On  the  oontrary,  there  ia  juat  aa  much  need  for  skill  ami 
f<msi|^t  in  thte  aa  in  the  other  branch  of  building  location. 
A  dty  is  made  up  of  distrieta,  eadi  of  which  has  its  more  or 
less  d^nite  centre ;  hence  a  oonsiderable  amount  of  nd|^ 
boihood  grouiHng  ia  not  only  desiraUe  but  posdUe.  Police 
and  fire  stationa,  when  plumed  together,  can  occupy  the 
same  building,  a  partoeiahip  that  aaaurea  a  saving  in  the 
cost  of  construetioa  and  in  eapenae  <rf  maintoiaaoe.    The 


PttUk 


63      PRDiCIPLn  09  MUmOIPAL  ADMINIITRATIOM 

UMsl  i«Moa  for  pkwiaff  a  poUet  ■talioa  la  ow  ■tiMk  tad  • 
Ili»«igla«  houM  ia  tbt  BMtk  to  th«l  ihaf  hvn  btta  tiwud 
•I  JIflnrait  timM  and  «m1i  loottid  ia  obt^oMt  to  mmm 
iml0r«alBiotW«,ooaaMal3r»Pottti«l«^  Forariaiibr 
fMMoa,  ahhovi^  a  combiaatkwi  of  leiioolhouf,  plajgrava^ 
sad  braaeb  Wbmj  «l  oao  MsHt  would  b«  cBtiraljr  appto* 
priate  from  vrmy  poiai  of  Tiew,  yoi  laitljr  an  thM  plao« 
of  iartraetiott  aad  neraatioB  wHUa  qMaUac  dtoCaaoa  of 
onoaaodMr.  A  vWmi  of  the  flity  tliat  takM  mueh  thoo^ 
of  to-day  aad  aoat  ol  to4Mno«— tliat  to  tho  uadwlyiag 
eauM  of  H  all  How  atadi  tUi  laek  of  foriii|^  haa  eoil 
the  thooaaad  aibaa  eoaummittoa  of  tkto  land  ia  aetoal 
monetaiy  waatage,  aot  to  qMak  of  pabUe  iaooaTcatoaa^  to 

boyoad  caay  ealralatioa. 
Ia  tht  third  plaee,  tiMva  aro  maajr  piMe  •troetuna  wfatok 

miMl  ht  loeated  ia  dbwiiflaoa  to  apaeial  ooaridwatioB.    li 
wM«f*-     f^i"^  *«  ■«'«»•  ^  ***«"  phyrieal  featvni  wiU  obvioudy  bo 
«rii.v«tei  the  obief  detcnidaiBg  etomiBt.    Ftebbe  hatha,  for  iaat»*:^ 
'""^      BMrt  be  placed  at  the  watw'a  *lfc    ffii^i-praawie  P«Bp- 
iag  aUtiona  aeed  ritea  otttddo  tbt  i«a|e  of  poarible  eoa- 
flagratiim,  ]ret  aoMr  Uio  boifaMr^  areas  whldi  they  are  do> 
B^ed  to  protect  aad  withir.  mj  aeeeaa  of  their  aoureeol 
wat«  rapidy.    Variooi  pi*  >'>"  i^?tittitkm^i  must  Ukewtoa 
be  located  ia  aceordaaoe  wit    t'{*ei;  i  m  parcieular  demaada. 
•Die  dty  hoai^tal,  the  cosl^<^rou9  hoapHal,  the  inaaae 
aaylnm,  are  patcat  esanpleB    ^  irjtiiiitiooa  that  do  ttot 
prcMBt  the  aaaw  pnAdema  of  auitaUe  eite  aa  do«a  the  my 
haU  or  the  poat-offiee.    Aad  there  are  yet  other  pccMQ 
agendea  which  are  hard  to  place  aatiifaetoiil^  for  the  simple 
reaaoB  that  ao  aeii^iboibood  wantc  their  9empm^y,    The 
dty  prison,     .e  reformatwy,  the  incinerator,  the  garbage 
reduction  plant,  even  the  poorhouse,  —  these  are  a^  wd» 
corned  in  any  settled  community.    Yet  they  must  be  p^ 
somewhere  within  the  bounds  of  the  dtv,  for  outside  w» 
aieipalities  will  not  harbor  Aem  j   and,  if  thsy  are  throil 
iato  some  out-of-the-way  coracr  where  the-   are  difficoH 


oirT  ruammQ  • 

tf  they  may  n«t  d***^  «••  rt  Iwrt  J*~?^    "  ^T 

not,  ih«.  fa-titiilio-i  »»  •  «ar^  J^^^ 

to-day. 

nvnuonMO  pbivati  »B(»««nr 
The  soopa  of  city  pUnning  it  not  wttiieted  to  detliajp 
with  pIZ^  or  te^-pubUe  Propjrty  ^one^    ^L!*L^  SST 
Utfgert  part  of  the  Uttd  compriaed  irtthrn  ib^  cit/t  W  ^ 
SrLler  priTtte  eoatrol,  and  much  of  what  puWic  p«^. 


64       PRINCIPLB8  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


planniiig  sets  out  to  aceomplidi  will  go  for  naught  if  privftte 
owners  are  permitted  in  all  cases  to  be  a  law  untu  tliem< 
selves.  The  day  has  gone  by,  indeed,  when  a  man  can 
claim  to  do  as  he  will  with  his  own.  Every  one  who  owns 
a  lot  of  land  abutting  on  the  public  streets  is  in  a  sense  the 
possessor  of  a  franchise,  and  as  such  he  holds  his  property 
subject  to  regulation  in  the  public  interest.  Hence  it  is 
that  efficient  city  planning  must,  when  necessaiy,  deal 
with  such  matters  as  set-backs, — tiiat  is,  with  the  fixing  ci 
building  lines  at  an  appropriate  distance  from  the  street,  — 
as  well  as  with  the  maximum  height  of  buildings  and  the 
quality  of  their  construction.  In  many  cities  of  Europe 
public  authority  also  exercises  a  veto  over  the  owner's  dis* 
cretion  in  the  matter  of  architecture.  In  Paris,  for  examine, 
a  building  permit  will  not  be  granted  to  any  private  ownor 
unless  the  architecture  as  well  as  the  ordinaiy  structural 
features  is  first  approved  by  the  municipal  art  commission.' 
In  Amorica  we  have  not  gone  so  far  as  that,  nor  can  we, 
in  view  of  constitutional  limits  on  the  impairment  of  pro* 
prietary  rights,  easily  go  so  far.  Even  such  restrictions  as 
we  have  set  up  relative  to  the  minimum  cost  of  buildings 
to  be  erected  in  various  residential  districts  have  been  fixed 
by  those  who  own  the  land  and  imposed  as  a  condition  of  the 
sale.  If  a  private  owner  conforms  to  the  goieral  rules  ol 
the  building  code,  he  can  usually  construct,  so  f ar  as  tlM 
city  authorities  ure  concerned,  any  architectural  oddity 
that  pleases  his  own  whim.  But  the  day  is  probably 
coming,  if  it  is  not  already  near  at  hand,  when  this  much* 
abused  private  discretion  will,  to  some  extent  at  least,  be 
broui^t  within  the  field  of  civic  regulation. 

This  brings  up  a  large  and  interesting  question.  How 
far  should  public  authority  be  permitted  to  go  in  the  fidd 
of  municipal  nsthetics?    Hie  police  power  of  Uie  munici- 

>  Loak  Bonnier,  "NotM  on  the  Recttlfttiou  govmiof  Uw  Fteoaist 
and  Dedcning  of  BuildintB  in  Ftria,"  in  Trwaetiotu  af  Iha  Rtfid  /iuMM» 
€f  Brititk  ArekiUeU,  1910,  pp.  90^333. 


CITT  PL&MNINO 


66 


paJity  already  coven  ail  matten  that  affect  Ae  health, 
safety,  or  morals  of  the  citiien.    It  w  adequate  to  abate 
nuiaancee  in  the  fonn  of  bad  odore  or  unnerwsary  noiae, 
but  it  ia  not  yet  broad  oiouf^  to  protect  the  'jitiien  againit 
things  that  merely  offend  the  eye.    Among  the  various 
major  senses  of  the  human  frame  the  laws  of  the  land  thus 
make  discrimination,  denying  to  one  the  recognition  which 
they  give  to  another.    To  many  persons  the  flaring  bill- 
board, for  example,  is  a  nuisance  in  the  same  class  with  the 
shrieking  whistle  and  the  odoriferous  glue  factoiy;  but  the 
courts  do  not  yet  accept  that  point  of  view.*    With  them 
aaithetic  considerations,  unlike  those  affecting  health  and 
morals,  are  not  permitted  to  transcend  proprietary  rights, 
a  doctrine  that  has  boMi  a  great  obstacle  in  the  way  of  all 
attempts  to  make  streets  and  public  places  attractive.    Tlie 
giant  bill-board  thrusts  itself  forward  at  eveiy  turn,  crowd- 
ing every  pleasing  prospect  out  of  the  way ;  and  all  attempts 
to  curb  its  rapacity  as  a  def  acer  of  both  country  and  town 
have  usually  failed  because  of  the  protection  which  a  strict 
construction  of  constitutional  provisions  affords.    It  is  the 
duty  of  the  city's  planning  authority  to  devise,  throu^ 
channels  of  taxation  or  in  some  other  way,  a  means  of  pro- 
fMJting  the  streets,  parks,  boulevards,  and  other  public 
places  from  this  d^acement. 

Another  feature  of  city  jdanning  in  European  countries, 
stiU  unpractised  to  any  important  degree  in  America,  is  that  JJ^J"" 
known  as  "soning."  Tliis  means  that  various  sections  of  wMii^. 
the  city  are  definitdy  set  apart  as  factory  or  mercantile  or 
residential  districts,  and  are  restricted  to  their  designated 
uses.  Factories  or  Urge  stores  are  not  permitted  in  the 
residential  section,  nor  are  residences  allowed  where  land 
has  hem  set  a^e  for  mercantile  purposes.    Each  ekss  has 

>  A  w«wl<w  mm  oo  tbta  poiat  it  OoauBOBwnlth  ».  Boitm  AdvwtWaK 
Compuy.  188  JtfoM.  348.    am  tha  Mtfort  tf  tka  M*i/m'»  Bmomd  Cmm- 
mwnm  (N*w  Yofk,  WIS),  wpMisBjr  Afc  hM.     Ammaun 
deeiiiou  may  Iw  fooad  ia  R.  A.  MfH't  artiei*  OB  "  MnaWpri 

in  Cam  md  CmmmnI,  xriii.  8S7-4W  (DMwabw.  1911). 

9 


«6       PRINCIPLSS  OF  MDNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

its  own  allotted  soae.    Within  each  lone  theie  are  dif- 
ferent building  regulations  and  often  di«Ferent  rules  as  to 
taxation.    In  Cologne,  for  example,  25  per  cent  of  all  build* 
ing  lotfc  must  be  left  vacant  in  the  central  or  business  sone» 
36  per  cent  in  the  next  outer  sone,  and  50  per  coit  in  the 
aone  of  detoched  residences.    The  sones,  of  course,  are  not 
necessarily  mapped  in  the  form  of  concentric  circles.    Eaeb 
has  its  own  regulations  as  to  building  heights  and  its  own 
special  architectural  restrictions.    This  is,  of  r  unw,  a 
rational  and  sdentifie  method  of  procedure,  and  gives  great 
flexibility  to  the  building  laws.    The  best  example  of  a 
aoned  city  is  furnished  by  Prankfort-on-the-Main,  when 
the  plan  has  been  in  operation  for  many  years  with  advan< 
tageous  results.    Under  the  provisions  of  the  so-tetmed 
Lex  Adicket,  moreover,  the  Frankfort  authorities  have  wkle 
powers  in  the  matter  of  pooling  the  ownership  of  k>ts  in  any 
area  of  the  city,  and  then  redistributing  the  land  among 
the  original  owners  in  re-arranged  and  more  convoaient 
lots  with  restrictions  as  to  the  architeeture  of  building 
In  America  the  soning  project  would  probably  ^counter 
serious  constitutional  obstacles ;  but  a  consideration  of  it, 
particulariy  as  a  means  of  avoiding  the  loeation  <rf  f actcmss 
in  congested  districts,  k  worth  the  attention  (rf  aM  iriw 
are  interested  in  this  branch  of  city  planning.* 
''^  some  of  ito  various  phasss  die  soning  question  1ms 

SSSSrf  ^j^y  engaged  the  attention  of  American  dty  authorities. 

boiUiivi.  Most  of  our  cities  have  their  fire  Umits,  which,  as  wiU  be 
explained  later,  are  merely  sones  within  which  special 
regulations  apply  to  the  construction  of  buildings  in  the 
mterest  of  fire  protection.  In  a  few  cities  the  rules  as  to 
the  maximum  height  of  buildings  have  also  been  arranged 

».Ifr'JTJ*Ir"'*'*ii  *^  «>MM«»tloii  which  WM  given  to  this  nutter  ia 

L^ItJ^UI*  !??^  »*?•  »»  «•:•»»  in  the  vtiole  by  BnTHSdemMi 
^nnHSThS'Tn'. '*^r^^  P«v«tol>H.«t  by  the ZoL Byetem  andiS 


CITY  PLANNSfO 


«7 


on  a  zone  i^gtem.  Boston,  for  example,  ia  divided  into  dia- 
tricts  with  a  different  maximum  heig^  set  for  each,  and 
the  courts  have  decided  that  it  is  within  the  constitutional 
power  of  the  city  to  make  such  distinction.'  But  it  is  not 
to  be  inferred  from  this  that  municipal  authorities  may, 
by  the  exerdse  of  their  police  powers,  lay  restrictions  upon 
the  use  to  which  a  building  shall  be  put  (provided  the  use 
does  not  constitute  a  nuisance),  or  define  the  general  archi- 
tectural qualities  that  any  private  structure  must  have. 

Some  American  cities  have,  during  recent  years,  attempted 
to  fHvteot  their  fine  reddential  districts  by  means  of  ordi-  ^^'^2*|^ 
nances  forbidding  certain  industries  within  these  reddoitial  of  iadu*- 
areas.  Los  Angeles  is  perhaps  the  best  example.  The  ea-  ****** 
tire  city,  with  the  eaoeption  of  two  suburbs,  is  divided  into 
industrial  and  residsBtiid  <&tricts.  In  the  former  areas  aU 
kinds  of  business  and  manuf acttuing  are  permitted ;  in  the 
latter  the  ordinance  forbkls  the  carrying  on  of  any  business 
ur  inchtstry  that  would  properly  be  regarded  as  objection- 
able in  a  residential  area.  A  list  of  such  industri^  is  in- 
cluded in  the  (mlinance.  The  Los  Angeles  regulations  have 
been  in  force  since  1909 ;  they  xjpply  not  only  to  new  in- 
dustries but  are  retroMtive  m  tiioir  effeet  upon  those  already 
establidied.  Th«y  have  i»oved  successful  in  operation,  aiMl, 
more  important  still,  thegr  havis  been  ufdield  by  the  hi|^- 
«st  state  oevrts.  Fw  othsr  d^es  ci  the  country,  there- 
fore, this  sramg  ssperimant  riioukl  have  a  great  deal  oi 
interest.' 

>  For  tilt  kwi  frdnc  tiMM  mmmi,  am  MaaaaekvaetU  AelM  and  Jlfaofawt, 
I8W.0I1.  «SS;  19IM.di.888;  1906,  ab.  888.  Wot  tb»  imkkum,  mm  AU 
twney-Qcnenl  v.  Wffliaaw,  174  Mau.  476;  »ad  WtMi  ».  SwMey,  198 
Maff.  364.  A  fuB  (iMnuricm  of  tk»  «Me  question,  ia  its  1»«uler  Mpeoto, 
may  be  found  in  Btptrt  tf  iht  Itapr't  CvmmUtkm  m  Hti^  tf  ByiUHnf 
(New  Yorit.  1914). 

'  Tbis  wiMtiewnt  b  ftdy  d«M»ibsd,  with  a  wimnry  of 
daei^oBt  aad  trfiaiui  to  aomewbat  ibglHr  ntm0om  ia  othv  i 
by  lAvraaw  Vaite  ia  kis  paovhlot  sMtllsJ  "Protwlti^ 
Dirtricta,"  ianud   by  *•   Natioial  Hoaalat  Aaaooii^oB, 
1914. 


68       PRWCIPLfiS  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMIN I8TIUTION 


Th«ww 

■■peetoof 
dtyplan* 


THE  BOCIOLOGT  OF  Cm  PLANNINO 

City  planning,  as  has  been  intimated,  does  not  deal 
merely  with  streets  and  subways  and  water  fronts.  In  its 
broader  application  it  must  take  into  account  the  laws 
under  which  the  dtisoi  lives,  the  rules  which  govern  hk 
relations  with  his  fellow-men  and  upon  the  intrinsic  merit 
of  which  his  health  and  happiness  in  large  measure  depend. 
It  is  in  a  sense  unfortunate  that  so  much  more  has  been 
said  and  written  about  planning  streets  and  buildings  than 
about  planning  the  laws  and  ordinances,  for  there  has  come 
to  be  stamped  upon  the  public  imagination  a  notion  that 
city  planning  is  largely  a  matter  of  ornamental  lamp-posts, 
artistic  bridges,  and  thinp  of  such  nature.  This,  of  course, 
is  not  the  case.  Eveiy  sensible  advocate  of  civic  better- 
ment knows  veiy  well  that  our  social  laws  and  ordinances 
want  quite  as  much  straightening  out  as  our  netwoik  <rf 
thoroughfares.  The  urgent  need  of  harmony  between  otir 
housing  and  health  regulations,  between  the  rules  of  our 
building  and  fire  departments,  between  our  traffic  ordinances 
and  our  police  regulations,  —  all  this  is  plain  to  every  in- 
telligent citisen;  and  yet  these  various  rules  of  human 
conduct  are  rarely  the  product  of  conference  between  the 
several  authorities  concerned.  There  is  here,  as  there  is 
everywhere  else,  a  great  deal  of  room  for  planning,  whidi 
is  another  name  for  evolving  an  aggregation  of  ideas  ki 
common.  The  practice  of  dividing  city  administration 
into  departments  has  created  in  official  circles  the  impre*- 
sion  that  each  branch  of  municipal  activity  is  a  thing  apart, 
to  be  handled  in  jealous  resentment  of  mterference  from 
any  other  department,  —  a  noti(m,  it  is  needlen  to  point 
out,  not  only  wrong  in  conception  but  vicious  in  its  results, 
for  it  has  engendered  frietiott  amcmg  the  various  adminis- 
trative officials  with  soious  d^ys  and  inaction.  Some 
cities,  in  an  endeavor  to  bring  ajl  the  departments  into 
working  harmony,  have  arranged  for  periodic  conferences 


CITT  PLANNING 


68 


of  the  department  heads ;  but  the  beet  raralts  will  never  b» 
secured  until  this  praetioe  becomes  the  very  keystone  of 
administrative  policy. 

The  sociological  aspects  of  city  planning  cannot  propwly 
be  emphasised  \mtfl  a  great  many  social  facts  are  collMed. 
These  can  be  obtained  by  .what  are  common^  termed  ^^uSmUi 
social  surveys,  such  as  have  bem  made  in  many  American  *y^ 
cities  during  the  past  dosen  years.  A  social  survey  is 
bimply  an  elaborate  inquiry  into  the  conditions  under  which 
the  people  live,  particularly  in  the  crowded  areas ;  it  is  a 
study  of  their  earnings  and  expenditures,  their  places  of 
work,  their  homes,  their  recreations,  in  fact  of  all  their 
economic  and  social  rdations.  The  most  comprehmsive 
American  undertaking  of  the  sort  is  that  conducted  a  few 
years  ago  by  the  Russell  Sage  Foundation  and  known  as  the 
Pittsburi^  Surv^.*  Something  of  this  kind  is  an  essmtial 
preliminary  to  the  planning  of  better  laws,  ordinances,  or 
health  r^ulations.  The  jnoblon  of  improving  general 
conditions  of  life  in  a  crowded  dty  cannot  be  solved  by  any 
appeal  to  the  general  canons  of  social  ethics.  Law  f<rilows 
the  trend  of  public  opinion,  and  public  oi»nion  r^purds  the 
facts  when  th^  are  made  known.  In  the  gathering  and 
presentation  of  the  facts  one  takes  the  surest  way  to  an  in- 
fluence on  the  statute-book. 

A  city  plan  is  never  finidied,  or  it  ou^t  nevnr  to  be 
finished.  As  abeady  niggested,  it  must  be  based  on  both  "^J^j^ 
physiographic  and  social  data,  both  of  which  are  con-  dtypfam. 
stitntly  changing,  the  latter  with  great  rapidity.  The 
planning  board  should  be  not  only  a  maker  but  a  constant 
amcnder  of  plans;  it  must  meet  eveiy  new  problem  that 
arises  and  reopoi  every  old  problem  that  takes  new  shape. 
The  city  planner  must  to  some  extent  assume  the  r61e  of  a 

■  The  fMU  gaUiartd  in  tiw  PittsLjii^  Barmy  hmv  bcw  pobiUMd  io 
fiix  vfAamt*  by  ths  Rnaril  8i««  FbandtktkNi  (N«w  Toric.  1900-1914).  A 
ilixpuMion  of  the  iMtliods  of  TBaUBg  thaw  iavwtipMloM  on  s  anwlhr 


scalp  nuy  be  found  in  •  rix^-Mf*  paapUet,  Tk$  8mUL  Smmn,  by  PMd 

i&ii9r        ~     "~     ~     ■  ■ 


U.  KeUon  and  otim*. 


1913  by  ti  •  BomII  Ssfe  Foaadstkm. 


70       WUNCIPLM  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

prophet,  and  he  will  no  doubt  wmetime.  predict  wronrtr. 
A  banning  board  ii  therrfore  no  place  for  the  mu  njc 
iMkTaiSible  imagination.    It  may  be  the  place  for  the 
«n  who  see*  viriona,  but  not  for  the  man  who  alwayi 
««,  the  «me  virions  -  a  type  that  abound,  m  ev«jr 
community.    Ri^it  here,  ind«rf,  i.  the  chief  dan««m^ 
whole  plaBBiag  movement:  aomethmg  that  is  admiral»^r 
outlined  to  suit  the  requirement,  of  to-day  may  becomt 
«  dead  fetidi  that  rtand.  in  the  path  of  real  PWJ>~ /«"  • 
future  gweration.     The  rtereotyped  idea  i.  haWe  to^ 
more  haan  than  good.     In  s»  of  our  atie.  the  pop* 
lation  ifl  incrcawng  at  a  irtapendous  rate;  Lo.  Angelej,  fot 
example,  ha.  trebled  it.  eitiKm.hip  in  ten  y^.    Haci 
growSTin  wealth,  in  civic  wtivity,  in  the  dady  need,  of  tli. 
leade,  i.  uma^  even  more  rapid,  it  i.  dear  ti>«t  a  pla« 
whiA  allow.  i*sdf  to  be  outmarched  by  civic  progiw 
become,  only  a  ^tumbling^lock.    Tlie  plan  must  keep  jjsf 
with  the  dty,  awl  in  some  American  citie.  thw  mean,  that 
it  must  rtep  fast  nowaday..    The  efficient  dty-irfanntag 
bo«d  must  ac«>riyn^  po«e«  •  very  elaatic  imaginaiion; 
it  murt  »oogni»  h«d  fact,  and  obvion.  tendende.,  whether 
fortunate  or  unfortunate,  and  must  readily  give  ur  It.  own 

notisB.  whenever,  thiou^  dianged  conation.,  they  M«n 
to  be  at  variance  with  the  new  cumnt  of  .ffaii..  Theotr 
plaM^if  boMd  that  ride,  a  hobby  will «»  nde  to  a  faU. 

Mere  difieult  than  the  gathering  of  data  or  the  PWP»^ 

PttttiiMti..  tion  of  V^mm,  or  even  than  the  conrtant  adapting  of  ^ 

SSi^     pUm.tonewn.ed.,i.thetaAoftramrfomagpap«r^j^ 

^^     into  accompUAed  facts*    No  one  expeet.  a  modem  city 

to  be  recreated  in  a  day  or  a  generation.    There  are  oo^ 

•ion.,  however,  when  large  wAeme.  of  rwoMtruction  be 

oome  powible.    The  qpportumty  was  pf«M^  to  «» 

Frandwso  and  to  Baltimore,  for  eiample.  after  their  gnM 

eonflagrations  of  wme  years  ago ;  but  in  tfcefonaer  east  rt 

.  Ftowl  ShwtWr  »d  P.  L.  OI»l*  C-rr»*it  «•  «*t  «if  Ptai  (!•» 

York,  1914). 


orrr  plankino 


n 


•M  almort  entirely  di««f»ided,  and  in  Uie  latter,  althouj^ 
Ze  repUnnini  took  plwe,  cpeciaUy  in  the  w«t«^«>»t 
«^  the  outcome  feU  far  Aort  of  the  entue  poeribihty. 
A.  a  rule,  dvic  reeonrtruction  proceeds  by  inAes,  but  to 
Z  couri  of  time  it  covers  mile.,    m  fimetion  of  the 
planning  board  ie  to  eee  that  in  thua  proceeding  it  mom 
hi  the  ri^t  and  not  in  the  wrong  direction.    Thii  means 
that  when  a  city  department  undertakes  to  lay  out  a  new 
rtreit  or  to  provid.  a  new  pUyground  or  to  erect  a  new 
pubUc  building,  it  diall  not  be  permitted,  at  least  without 
viiorous  protest,  to  do  something  that  is  <^«»^*  ^^ 
Dlans  mapped  out  for  other  di^Mtftments  and  speed  to  by 
Ihem.    Either  the  new  project  Aould  be  brou^t  mto  con- 
formance with  the  plans,  or  the  plans  should  be  amended  to 
make  place  for  the  project.    The  latter  poU<^  is  ^e  which, 
from  the  nature  of  things,  must  be  resorted  to  frequently 
for  a  long  time  to  come.    Although  the  unmediate  visible 
achievements  of  a  cSty-planning  board  may  accor^y  seem 
to  be  ne^gible,  yet  from  a  sensible  viewpomt  this  circum- 
Btance  should  afford  no  reason  for  discouragement. 

AU  city-planning  movements  are  sure  to  encounter  ob- 
stacles, poUtical,  legal,  and  financial.    Pohtical  infhmces 
and  administrative  prejudices  wiU  often  persist  m  deter- 
mining the  form  that  a  pubUc  improvement  shaU  take. 
Laws  and  even  constitutions  may  have  to  be  changed  m 
order  to  get  simple  things  that  every  one  wants.    The  pro- 
test that  the  city  cannot  afford  the  eipense  wiU  be  met  at 
nearly  every  turn.    These  difficulties  are  apt  to  ^urage 
the  faint-hearted,  but  a  persistent  puAing  forward  of  well- 
developed  plans,  if  Ihey  have  real  merit,  must  m  the  long 
run  accompHrfi  a  great  deal.    It  is  true  that  a  programme 
which  contenpl»tes  no  more  than  steady  guidawe  alo^ 
lines  of  reasonable  prudence  is  not  Ukely  to  fire  the  pubhc 
imagination,  or  to  satirfy  those  ardent  spirits  m  every 
large  community  who  ws«t  cur  cities  to  embark  on  great 
projects  of  tearing  dow«  mi  building  up  rif^t  away ;  but 


The 


Ill 


iag«leit]r 


72       PRIKCIPLI8  OP  MUNICIPAL  Al>MIMI*nUTK>N 

the  financial  condition  <rf  tbe  averafe  American  city  puti 
these  HauHmann-like  mteipriaes  out  of  all  quection.  We 
must  be  content  with  a  UtUe  at  a  time.  Then  ii  no  tingb 
pUee  to  begin  or  to  end.  The  main  thing  is  to  keep  tte 
various  dty  departmenU  in  toudi  with  eaeh  other  and  all 
headed  the  same  way,— to  furnish  at  least  one  coOrdinat> 
ing  force  in  <mr  municipal  chaos  of  diverging  aims  and 
energies. 

Whenever  aiqr  replanning  project  is  broui^t  forward  fw 
discussion  the  task  of  provicUng  the  necessaiy  funds  is  one 
of  tiie  first  obstacles  to  be  encountered.    To  cover  the 
entire  cost  out  of  the  annual  tax  levy  is  of  course  out  of  the 
question,  but  there  are  various  alternatives.     One  of  tiMse 
is  to  assess  the  major  portion  on  such  private  property  as  is 
directly  benefited.    This  plan  has  been  used  freely  by  the 
cities  of  the  United  SUtes,  and  on  the  whde  with  advan- 
tage ;  and,  now  that  the  legal  rules  relating  to  special  assess 
ments  arc  gradually  straightening  themselves  out,  the  i^stem 
will  probably  be  more  etdiy  managed  than  it  has  been.* 
Yet  even  by  this  uMans  cities  cannot  usually  finance  the 
whole  cost  of  public  improvem«its ;  mudi  of  it  must  tw 
provided  in  some  other  way.    Nor  are  the  new  opportuni* 
ties  offered  to  American  dtks  in  the  way  of  eieess  ewor 
demnation  likely  to  be  used  widely  or  with  great  raceess  so 
long  as  their  administrative  oivuaisations  enntinue  to  be 
influenced  by  politics.    It  appears,  Ukwefore,  that  at  least 
a  considerable  part  of  whatevor  outlay  the  replanning  ol 
a  city  involves  must  be  financed  with  borrowed  nunMy. 
But  here  again  the  debt  limit  which  is  imposed  on  most 
cities  either  by  the  state  constitution  or  by  the  general  law 
piesents  a  barrier.    These  debt  limits,  as  will  be  pointed  out 
later,  vary  in  diffemt  states,  but  the  average  is  not  more 
than  from  5  to  7  per  cent  of  the  assessed  valuation.'    Within 
this  range  it  is  practically  impossible  for  American  cities  to 


>  8m  tin  dfanuiiaa  of  9«isl 
•Bdow.pp.40B-«71. 


pp.  4S6-43B.  ImIow. 


cmr  FLAMNOIQ 


7S 


tury  throuih  eampntimttn  mimom  of  luurbor  dtrdoi^ 
ment,  itreet  reoooitniotioB,  or  undflfgnmiid  tnaitt.  Tbo 
citiM  of  Europe  eould  boI  haiw  doM  Mah  tlita|i  uadMr  tlw 
ri^  dobi-limit  prorWott  wlddi  mtiioto  IIm  botrowiag 
power  of  muBk^pdikki  in  tUi  oonaliy.  Afloofdiagljr, 
there  muit  fink  be  tome  upbnyBg  of  Amerieen  wxaMpti 
finance.  Sevenl  oouiM  an  poiriUe:  the  tMm  maj  in- 
ereue  their  t«(  niM,  iad  aeer  eoueee  of  eamiel  nvmm, 
obtain  power  to  kry  a  kfiar  portfam  of  the  eoet  of  poblie 
improvemente  in  aptiial  MiMtmwitt,  or  die  eeeure  wider 
borrowing  powers.  As  matten  now  eteady  the  ehief  ob- 
stacle in  the  way  of  eity^plaiuiing  prograa  k  the  time* 
honored  problem  of  how  to  pay  the  billi. 


CHAPTER  in 


TkafltdP*! 


TiMir 
Imparteaa*. 


TAB  itrMto  are  Um  artcitot  (rf  the  dtjr;  tiitgr  oany  th« 
life-blood  of  uiiMui  ocHnmeree.  Tliey  beer  on  their  lurfMe 
the  foot  traffic,  the  vdiielee  of  eveiy  eort,  and  the  traUqr 
ears.  Hiey  afford  loeationa  for  lamp-poets,  trees,  hydrant^ 
street  clocks,  telephone  p<^es,  and  various  other  publie 
iirpedimenta.  Bdow  the  ground  they  provide  not  only 
for  subways,  but  for  water  mains,  sewers,  gas  pipes,  and  wire 
conduits.  Overhead  they  cany  elevated  railway  struetune 
and  wires  of  every  land.  They  are  the  channels  whidi 
bring  lig^t  and  air  to  the  diops  and  dwellings.  All  these 
things,  and  more,  the  streets  of  a  city  must  do  nowadays; 
hence  the  people  have  come  to  depmd  upcn  them  for  almost 
every  form  of  public  service. 

Tlie  problem  of  making  the  streets  effidoit  is  accordiniAy 
not  a  mere  question  of  good  pavanmt ;  it  is  a  question  of 
adapting  the  thoroughfare  to  the  varied  services  which  our 
complex  urban  life  requires  of  it.  If  a  dty's  streets  are  ill 
planned  or  inadequate,  an  «rtra  burden  is  put  upcm  the 
time  and  tempers  of  the  dtixens.  If  they  are  too  wide  for 
reasonable  needs,  they  represent  an  impodtion  on  the 
shoulders  of  the  tuqiayers,  because  all  unneceesary  street 
area  means  needless  outlay  for  construction,  maintenance, 
and  repair.  The  land  used  for  streets  is  of  great  marketaUe 
value ;  it  has  been  estimated  that,  if  valued  on  the  same  bads 
as  adjacent  private  property,  it  would  be  worth  over 
two  billions  in  New  York  City  alone,  or  about  one  tenth 

74 


TS 


ol  tlM  mkoMd  vrfnt  of  all  th*  form  kadi  d  th«  UaiUd 
HutM.'   How  ioq^ovUBt  H  is»  tlMnfnre,  tlukt  thit  cnomoin 
pttbtts  MMt  shovkl  b«  oumI*  to  tmim  Om  grai««i  ponibli 
nturo  in  imMie  larriool 
In  the  htatoty  of  dYiHwtloo  tiio  bif^wtyt  Uto  thmyi 

ten  piomiiiMit  f Mton.   TVjr  •»«»••»««•  ^'*>*«*»  *»^  I5J!f 
in  tU  iMiwatioM  bwtt^t  nn  into  wtttoei  wHh  om  •»-  hmv^ 
otlMT.   Tli^MtaioldaitliooWirtooamnaitjrjovia^^i 
mhtimMi  vttim  of  iotiqiiitsr  •»•  '«»«*  *•  J**^  J**  '^ 
proviitod  with  itrMto.    In  piimWt*  towns  tiiflr  wwo 
Si«ow  and  cioolMd;  th«o  li,  h  wiB  bo  fowUod,  •  ta^ 
tuna  hint  thai  •  otiott  of  Dmumwi  "which  it  eoUod 
Stnifht"  WM  to  mueh  oat  of  tho  otdiatijr  tt  to  bontdily 
found  without  Ittrthw  direetioat.    Ath«»i»a  itiMtt  w«o 
qntemttiedlj  pltaaod,  tad  to  wtfo  thote  of  tho  eittat 
whieh  Aleundor  tho  Omt  boiH  tfttr  hit  eonqntttt.    So 
f  »r  M  hi^wty  eonttroetion  wtt  oonetnod  h  wmrintd  for 
the  Romnnt  to  mtko  tho  fiitt  gntt  tdraaet.    Whowrw 
they  went  thty  etnitd  their  tdaiin*lo  molhodt  of  eoUd 
load-mtkinc.    They  ttu^t  tho  world  itt  firtt  lettont  in  tho 
value  of  nudn  thoroufhftfet,  tod  their  work  wtt  of  «id» 
en  enduring  ehtmeter  thnttomoof  tt  ramnint  in  utt  tt  the 
preeent  dty.    But  tho  Romtn  rotdt  wero  built  with  mili- 
taiymotivetiamiad;  noeoidinfly,  tftor  tho  eolltptt  of  tht 
empire  mtny  of  them,  not  being  weU  tdtpted  for  the  nee^ 
oftr»de,wei«tllowedtogointoditute.    For  mtny  tueeoedp 
ing  oenturiet  no  rotdt  or  ttreeto  were  built  which  in  deiiiB 
or  conitruetion  oomptred  wtth  thote  of  Romtn  timet. 
Even  in  the  mott  importtnt  citiee  of  wottem  Europe  the 
main  etieett  were  throughout  tho  whole  medinvtl  period 
little  more  thtn  Itnet  of  mud  tnd  filth.    Modom  rotdr 
making  did  not  begin  unta  the  ei^teenth  eentuiy,  tnd  not 
•On immn  1.  m4,m»mmmA_yth»»kmiit  hmd  l»y«w TotkOg 

Uiird  of  tiM  «Btin  ana:  hmm,  awnatarAe  J^llf' **J?!!J„|5  S 
t!»  »m.  aa  Uiat  of  ad|M«t  private  pw^,  Ae^ttwliiiiaja  woald  ba 

watik  aboet  WKOfiObfifOO,  or  lialf  Uia  total it  vahiatioii. 


MKROCOPr  HKNUTION  TBT  OMIT 

(ANSI  and  ISO  TEST  CHART  No.  J) 


!rl^ 

la,  ISb 

m22 

IZO 

t.S 

i 

11.8 

/IPPLlEa  IM/OE    Inc 

1653  East  Main  Stmt 
Rocheitw.  Nn  Vorh        14609      US* 
(716)  tai  -0300  -Pfion* 
(716)  28S-S9a9-Fiu 


76       PRINCIPLES  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINI8TIUTI0N 

for  a  long  time  afterwards  did  it  approach  the  Roman 
standard  of  perfection.  More  progress  in  street  construc- 
tion has  been  made  during  the  past  hundred  years  than  in 
the  fourteen  centuries  preceding. 


THE  STBEET  DEPABfmBinP 

The  street  department  of  a  large  city  has  three  widely 
WnMOomoi  different  branches  of  work  to  perform.  First  of  all  there 
pwtmentr  is  the  planning  of  streets,  including  their  location,  width, 
and  grade,  together  with  the  acquisition  of  the  necessary 
land  for  street  piuposes.  In  the  second  place  there  is  the 
task  of  constructing  the  streets,  paving  them,  and  keeping 
them  in  repair.  Third,  there  is  the  necessity  of  protecting 
them  against  injiuy  throu^  too  frequmt  excavation  by 
public-service  companies  or  through  improper  replacement 
of  the  pavements  after  such  excavations.  All  such  duties 
belong  to  the  street  departmoit  itself ;  but  there  are  various 
other  functions  connected  more  or  less  closely  with  street 
administration  which  go,  as  a  rule,  to  other  departments  of 
the  city  government.  The  work  of  cleaning  the  streets, 
for  example,  is  often  in  the  hands  of  the  sanitary  depart- 
ment ;  the  regulation  of  traffic  on  the  city's  thoroughfares 
is  almost  always  vested  in  the  police ;  and  street  lifting  is 
usually  controlled  by  still  another  branch  of  tiie  adminis* 
tration. 

In  view  of  this  multiplicity  of  functions  the  organization 
of  the  street  department  in  a  large  city  is  always  compli- 
cated. Until  recent  years  it  was  a  common  poUcy  to  put  the 
department  in  charge  of  a  board,  made  up  of  three  or  five 
men  either  appointed  or  elected,  an  arrangement  \mder 
which  the  actual  duties  connected  with  the  laying  out,  con- 
struction, and  maintenance  of  the  streets  were  performed 
by  a  superintendent  and  his  deputies.  One  objection  to  this 
system  came  from  the  fact  that,  through  its  failure  to  bring 
the  street  department  into  close  coordination  with  the 


Tbedqp«rt- 

mant'aor- 

gHiisKtioii 

fallMBB 

oitiM. 


8TBBBT8 


77 


other  branches  of  public-works  administration,  —  with  the 
water  and  sewer  departm«its,  for  example,  — it  often  led 
to  friction  and  actual  conflicts  of  authority.  In  the  larger 
cities,  accordin^y,  the  tendency  to-day  is  to  concentrate 
all  these  things  vmder  the  control  of  a  single  large  depart* 
ment,  commonly  known  as  the  department  of  public 
improvements,  public  works,  or  public  service.  The  depart- 
ment may  have  at  its  head  a  single  commissioner  or  direc- 
tor, as  in  Chicago,  Boston,  and  Philadelphia,  or  it  may  be 
managed  by  a  board,  as  in  St.  Louis  and  San  Francisco. 
New  York  City  maintains  the  unique  plan  of  putting  street 
administration  (except  street  cleaning)  into  the  hands  of  the 
five  borough  presidents.  In  cities  that  have  adopted  the  com^ 
mission  form  of  government  street  administration  is  always 
a  branch  of  the  public-works  department  and  under  the 
supervision  of  a  single  commissioner.* 

The  strongest  considerations  can  be  adduced  in  favor 
of  maintaining  this  close  coordination  among  the  great 
constructing  departments  of  a  city.  Obviously,  it  is  only 
by  the  adoption  of  the  policy  in  some  form  or  other  that 
needless  friction,  delay,  overlapping,  and  waste  can  be 
avoided.  A  sin^e  department  of  public  works,  with  its 
various  bureaus  of  engineering,  streets,  water,  sewers,  and 
bridges,  is  an  arrangement  that  must  in  the  long  run  make 
for  both  efficiency  and  economy.  The  physical  problems 
in  all  these  branches  of  administration  are  sufficiently  akin 

>  "The  imnoiide  tit  omtnliutioii  oC  eontrol  is  the  Rovmiiiif  teotor  ia 
a  municipal  hifhway  orgaoixatioa,  aa  it  it  alao  in  any  other  nrgaoisation 
of  whatevOT  nature.  This  oaa  <mi^  be  aooompUahed  in  a  highway  oigao- 
ization  by  flnt  awmmiiir  nioh  eoa/tiKi  of  the  streets  that  tiw  respmuft^ty 
for  all  conditions  that  may  arise  will  be  idaoed  anqualiiledly  with  the 
highway  bureau.  Seoond,  the  subdivisions  shoold  be  so  nrganiaed  that 
they  will  an  be  in  dose  toueh  with  tiw  eentral  ofllee  and  wwldnff  as  a  unit ; 
there  must  be  no  overlapi^  of  jnrisdiotion,  and  the  poliey  emanaUng 
from  the  main  ofBoe  as  to  methods  of  earrjring  cm  the  work  should  per- 
meate the  whole  tnganixation.  Eaoh  factor  in  the  wguiiiation,  horn  the 
common  laborer  up.  should  be  sehooled  in  a  soise  of  his  re^onsibility 
and  know  where  it  begins  and  ends." —W.  H.  CoKMMX, "  Municipal  Hii^ 
way  Oixanixation."  in  The  Amtrieon  CUy,  viii.  636  (May,  1913). 


FNsnt.ds)r 


in  various 

laiasAaMi^ 

ieanetths. 


ThsBSsdsl 


tionwHh 
othwd*. 


78       PRINCIPLES  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

to  demand  that  one  branch  shaU  not  be  handled  altogether 
apart  from  the  others ;  on  the  other  hand,  they  are  suffi- 
dently  diverse  to  require  that  each  division  shall  have,  in 
immediate  charge  of  details,  its  own  special  administrativi 
officers.* 


CLAasmCATION  OF  aTBUXflB 


types  of  dty 
■tneU. 


Streets 


1^ 


i  any  city  are  alike  in  the  demands 
made  upon  them.    In  some  the  traffic  is  heavy,  in  others 
it  is  light.    Some  are  used  mainly  by  vehicles,  others  by 
pedestrians.    Some  thoroughfares  are  traversed  by  trollqr 
cars,  some  are  not;  some  have  one  line  of  tracks,  others 
have  two.     Some  are  mercantile,  some  are  residential; 
Bome  are  main  streets,  some  are  side  streets;   some  we 
straight,  some  crooked,  some  level,  and  some  hiUy.    All 
these  and  many  other  differences  have  a  direct  relation  to 
the  proper  width  of  a  street,  to  its  paving,  cleaning,  and 
general  maintenance.    No  broad  rules  can  be  applied  to 
aU  kinds  of  city  highways ;  at  best  the  streets  can  be  dealt 
with  only  by  classes  or  types.     This  classification,  more- 
over, may  be  from  the  standpoint  of  the  traffic  on  the  street 
or  of  the  use  to  which  the  buildings  along  the  street  are  chiefly 
devoted,  or  it  may  be  based  on  a  combination  of  these 
factors.    A  wall-defined  classification  from  the  viewpoint 
of  both  quantity  and  quality  of  traffic  is,  however,  not 
easy  to  make.    Streets  have  usuaUy  been  grouped  as  busi- 
ness and  residential,  sometimes  with  a  class  called  "second- 
ary" streets  between  the  two;  but  these  differentiations 
do  not  go  far  enough  to  afford  a  sufficient  basis  for  deter- 

>8om«  idea  of  the  difloultiei  invdved  in  ocwebting  this  depMrtnurt 
with  othert  may  be  obtrined  by  a  rtudy  of  the  'V?""Tl!i?"*fl«f 

aeMofufor  Change,  in  Organiiation  and  iltthod,  by  tJ»New  York  Buww 
ffSfflipal  Re*«roh  (St.  Loui^  1910).  «»P«««^  PP;  l"!"^  f«  £ 
the  diwuMioM  on  "The  Superintendent  of  Steeets,  ^^■J^P"'?"^!^ 
QaaM«^ne,"  in  the  Chicago  City  Club'i  BuUtHn,  toI.  lii.  no.  6  (Nov»- 

ber  24, 1900). 


BTRIITB 


79 


nuning  aU  questioM  of  rti«et  poUcy.  Traffic  w  not  always 
a  dependable  barometer ;  not  only  does  it  vary  from  season 
to  season,  but  its  volume  and  nature  change  so  frequently 
from  unforeseen  causes  that  rigid  divisions  soon  become 
misleading.  If  the  city's  thoroughfares  are  to  be  grouped 
into  classes  and  dealt  with  as  such,  the  system  of  classifica- 
tion must  be  flexible.  There  should  be  provision  for  easUy 
changing  any  street  from  one  category  to  another  as 
altered  conditions  may  demand. 

As  the  first  step  in  a  proper  determination  of  street  policy,     ^^^ 
however,  some  grouping  of  the  city's  thoroue^ares  must  J^-gjJ- 
be  made,  and  the  foUowing  is  suggested  as  a  workmg  ar-  ttooi 
rangement :  — 

(I)  The  arterial  streets,  or  traffic  thoroui^ares.    In  tUs  oImb 
come  the  streets  which  are  the  direct  route  of  ttrou^ 
the-dty  and  across-the-dty  traffic,  particulwly  the  auto- 
mobUe  traffic.     They  may   be  retail,  ''hdesde,   or 
residential  streets  from  the  viewpoint  of  use  by  abuttois ; 
but  their  prime  characteristic  is  their  use  as  tnn* 
thoroughfares.     Every  dty  has  a  few  such  streets ;  the 
smaUest  community  has  at  least  one  of  them. 
The  retail  business  streets.    These  are  usuaUy  the  uaost 
congested  by  pedestrian,  vehicular,  and  street-car  traffic. 
They  bear  also  the  largest  number  of  unpedunents  m 
the  way  of  poles,  signs,  street  clocks,  and  so  forth. 
The  streets  of  the  wholesale,  financial,  shippmg,  market, 
and  office  districts.    Here  the  foot  traffic  is  not  so 
Urge,  nor  is  the  street  car  always  a  factor  m  congestion ; 
but  slowly  moving  vehidee  are  more  numerous  and  the 
streets  should  be  adapted  to  their  use.    The  practice 
of  backing  trucks  up  to  the  curb  for  loadmg  and  im- 
loading  should  also  be  taken  into  account.    Vehicles 
so  idaoed  take  up  about  fourteen  feet  of  roadway. 
The  main  streets  of  reridentijl  districts.    In  such  strert 
areas  the  traffic  of  aU  kinds  is  restively  light,  but  much 
of  it  is  quickly  moving,  and  a  large  portion  of  it  is 
cross-city  or  throu{^  traffic. 
The  minor  streets  of  residential  districts.    These  streets 
bear  very  little  through  traffic  and  what  they  do  aarry 


(2) 


(3) 


(4) 


(6) 


80       PRINCIPLBS  OP  MUNICIPAL  AOMINI8TIUTION 

is  highly  diversified.  They  form  by  all  means  the  mcti 
numerous  class  of  streets  in  any  city. 

(6)  Boulevards,  esplanades,  and  parkways.    Roadways  <rf  th» 

type  are  used  ahnost  wholly  for  pleasure  driving ;  heavy 
traffic  is  usually  excluded,  and  hence  no  unusual  stiaa 
need  be  provided  for. 

(7)  Alleys,  lanes,  courts,  and  passageways.    This  class  in- 

cludes the  narrow  public  ways  that  are  used  almost 
altogether  by  delivery  wagons,  refuse  collectors,  and  so 
on. 

A  very  little  reflection  will  serve  to  show  that  these  various 
classes  of  public  ways  make  altogether  different  demands  as 
regards  lay-out,  width,  pavements,  ndewalks,  cleaning, 
spriiiding,  and  lighting.  Each  class  constitutes  a  spedal 
problem  for  the  city's  street  department.  To  classify  every 
street  correctly  it  is  necessary  to  take  a  traffic  census,  that 
is,  an  actual  count  of  the  persons,  vehicles,  and  cars  using 
the  various  highways.  The  figures  should  be  tabulated  for 
each  street  at  differ^t  seasons  and  at  diffa«nt  hours  of  the 
day.* 


Tha  width 
ofitrwta: 
the  old 
poli«]r. 


STREET  WXDTHS 

Until  very  recent  years  in  all  American  cities,  and  even 
yet  in  some  of  them,  it  has  been  the  practice  to  lay  out 
streets  in  widths  of  exactly  forty,  sixty,  or  eighty  feet  from 
property  line  to  property  line.  Minor  streets  in  residential 
districts  have  usually  been  forty  or  sixty  feet  in  width, 
business  streets  and  avenues  eighty  or  one  hundred  feet.' 
In  any  case  the  distance  has  ahnost  invariably  been  fixed  in 
round  numbers,  in  multiples  of  ten.  This  rule-of-thumb 
policy  has,  of  course,  had  no  scientific  basis  whatever;  it 
has  used  purely  arbitrary  widths  which  at  best  bore  only 
a  guesswork  relation  to  street  traffic.    The  result  is  that  in 

« See  also  below,  pp.  115-117. 

*  L'EnfMit's  plan  of  Washiogton  provided  for  straete  of  ninety,  one 
bondred  and  tan.  one  hundred  and  thirty,  and  one  hundred  and  Oxts 
feet  in  width. 


MM 


STRHTB 


81 


eveiy  American  dty  many  itreets  are  either  a  few  feet  too 
narrow  or  a  few  feet  too  wide  to  be  efficient  in  the  highest 
degree  for  the  purpoaes  which  they  u  ■  .fsngned  to  serve. 
If  a  city  could  take  from  some  streets  the  surplus  area  which 
is  not  in  use,  and  give  it  to  other  streets  in  which  a  few  feet 
of  extra  width  are  badly  needed,  many  problems  of  traffic 
congestion  would  be  quickly  solved. 

Any  one  who  watches  traffic  moving  along  a  city's  streets 
will  notice  that  it  passes  in  streams,  deviating  from  its 
direct  course  onfy  when  obstacles  come  in  the  way.  Two 
streams  of  vehicle  traffic,  one  moving  rapidly  and  the  other 
slowly,  pHss  along  on  dther  side  of  a  busy  street.  Each 
strean)  requires  a  certain  sluiceway  or  zone  to  move  in. 
This  zone  of  traffic,  or,  in  other  words,  this  strip  of  street 
surface  that  is  necessary  in  order  to  allow  a  stream  of  traffic 
to  pass  conveniently,  is  the  unit  which  must  be  used  in  any 
scientific  determination  of  street  widths.  But  it  may  be 
urged  that  no  zone  of  vehicular  traffic  can  be  fixed  w'\ 
scientific  accuracy  because  there  is  no  standard  width  to 
which  all  vehicles  conform.  Carts  and  carriages  tha^  use 
the  streets  are  of  varied  dimensions.  The  sig^tHseeing  van 
needs  more  room  than  the  runabout.  All  such  things  must 
be  reckoned  out,  however,  and  the  unit  must  be  deter* 
mined  with  an  ^e  to  the  great  bulk  of  traffic  and  not  with 
reference  to  the  unusual  vdiide  that  comes  along  at  rare 
intervals.  Very  few  of  even,  the  largest  trucks  exceed 
seven  feet  in  width ;  90  per  cent  or  more  of  ordinary  vehicles 
take  six  feet  or  less;  and  the  margin  for  safe  clearance, 
with  average  skill  in  driving,  requires  another  foot.  This 
allowance  might  in  rare  places  give  ha^est  wagons  a  dose 
squeeze  when  they  come  dde  by  dde,  but  it  affords  reason- 
able clearance  room  under  all  normal  traffic  conditions. 
It  appears  to  be  only  a  matter  of  time,  moreover,  when  the 
laws  or  ordinances  will  establish  in  the  public  interest  a 
maximum  width  for  vehicles  using  the  streets.  In  many 
places  the  maximum  load  is  already  fixed,  and  so  every- 


Thtprapw 

wMtiiof 


baatdoa 


befisund 
out. 


82       PMNCIPL18  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINWTRATION 

Where  k  the  nuadmum  speed  at  which  any  yehide  mqr 

"'Z  proce- of  figuring  out  p~p«r  width.  bM^n  to^ 
^««^  m*v  be  roughly  iUi«tri.ted  M  foUowi.    Fmt  eonwi 
^"^  SnuSna.^^ether.treetcar.«etou.ethert««t 
^-^    TdouS^Jrack  car  hne,  with  due  elegance  .pj^,r^^ 
fwenty  feet.    This  calls  for  a  special  .one  m  tbe jmtee  cl 
Ze  Let.    In  highways  that  were  ^d  ^j*  ^««V*^ 
advent  of  the   i-  ^ey  there  is  no  way  of  avoiding  the  um  cl 
tt^  c  r    Z  by  ordinary  vehicles  »  ^^;^"^,^ 
nronerlv  designed  street  it  should  rarely  be  necesswy  for 
JSl'tSTroach  upon  a  troUey  right-'-^y-     ^ 
lecond  pUce,  there  should  be  one  or  more  zone,  of  v^d. 
S?c  ^n  eaih  ride  of  the  car  tracto.    ^nejuch  ^ne  « 

^SSTldd  trl^lt^;;:  t^rd  plac.  the  jdew^«. 
^her  side  for  pedestrians  (say  nine  feet  for  e^»^  "^e^ 
Mid  the  total  is  fifty-four  feet  as  the  minimum  for  asteeel 
J^  two^e.  of  track.  With  a  single  track  forty-fo^ 
ST^^rbTthe  minimum.  Sixteen  additionid  feet  mjj 
S^a^i  Wded  for  every  additional  .one  of  vdude  t«^ 
Sght  feet  on  each  side  of  the  street),  and  the  -»» 
autwance  must  also  be  increased  mkeepmg  with  i.  r 

of  foot  traffic.  The  principles  may  perhaps  be  mu^  ^ 
^ri«Hi  as  follows:  from  curb  to  ci^b  tl^^ J^^^^^* 
^^be  determined  in  multiples  of  sixteen  feet,  m^  the 
SSftion  of  seven  feet  for  each  line  of  rtan^  ^^'J^J^ 
ten  feet  for  each  hne  of  car  tracks;  add  to  ^^s^e  widAcI 
the  sidewalks,  including  gutter  space  and  ftnps  /or  ^s 
trees  as  may  be  desired,  and  the  total  will  give  the  width  of 

s  Vehicle.  ^n^J*  ^'STSuSt^lS'or'  SX'S 
•even  feet.  Bjoked  •«»i^  *« '^oTreti  buAie-  ■*»•*•  »  ■» 
take  about  twice  m  much  nptce.  ^^^f^LT^^^  ndewiM.  tai 
be  prudent  to  aUpw  fo'  *«  »^"^  ^^^SSfuoW  to  th. 
on  wholeiale  buameM  streets  for  two  zoaee  m  woo 

owbe 


-.ti^^'ms^JiLk'i 


amusiTB  ® 

„  emoieni)  itreet  «  f «  M  trdfic  wquirementi  are  eonp 

"^^IL  opimoiui  iiuty  cUffer  M  to  the  «^  n^^ 
feet  that  ought  to  be  allotted  to  a  wne  of  traffic,  there  Mn  ™^ 
be  no  reasonable  disagreement  on  the  main  point,  namely,  pm 
that  street  widths  should  be  determined  in  some  way  more  ^^^.j^ 
wientific  than  the  off-hand  adoption  of  round  n«mbeiji. 
It  is  beyond  question  that  the  old  plan  has  been  wastefiJ: 
two  or  three  extra  feet  of  street  width,  over  wd  above  the 
multiple  of  a  reasonable  traffic  sone,  are  of  practicaUy  no 
service  whatever.    Yet  knd  used  for  steeets  is  very  valu- 
able -  every  inch  of  it  costs  money.    One  extra  foot  run- 
ning the  whole  length  of  a  bu*y  street  is  sometimes  wortti 
Suons.    If  not  needed,  it  means  that  valuable  pubhe 
propertyisgivingnorealpubUcservioe.    Bf^Jes,  these  extra 
Uneal  feet  of  street  have  to  be  paved,  repaired,  cleaned^ 
sprinkled,  all  of  which  means  additional  annual  coat.    When 

.  Th.  f oDotriiw  «««ia«  fltartrnto  «|r^  »»  ^*>«^  *^  >^  "^^ 
oQtirh«»pp»tdte«IMr««iitolMMto«rtwrti:—  ^^^ 

Two«»MtofTdilolet»a«(oB«oB«MhMd»«ftes«s)    •    •    •    *' 

Two  rid0wril».Wf«rt«Mh  («»••»  ••A  ««») g 

"••^!?«MitiMiri'«»«rf^*k»totn»^  the  totd  widths        « 

A  oM-wof  oJtoif     . .        _  .    .     S 

OneioMorTvfaietotnSe ^ 

Omiidewslk  g- 

f„  forth.  di««.ri<».  of  tiU.  ~*2fs-f. f  iJiJ^ft  s'iL'jS 

ibid.,  184-187. 


w^ 


■■■ill 


Faeton 

other  than 
tnffle. 


84       PRINOIPLIS  Of  MUNICIPAL  ADIUNIOTRATION 

then  is  too  much  area  th«  lidewalki  we  liable  to  be  toe 
wide,  and  private  ownen  are  then  allowed  to  eneroaoh  upoa 
them.  Meet  rendential  streets  of  New  York  City  are  sixty 
feet  wide,  of  which  just  one  half  is  devoted  to  roadway;' 
eaeb  sidowalk  is  fifteen  feet  in  width,  and  into  this  spaee 
private  owners  have  been  permitted  to  build  projections  es> 
tending  out  five  feet.  Public  property  that  is  not  actualh 
needed  for  public  use  is  almost  sure,  in  such  cases,  to  be 
usurped  by  private  individuab.  In  a  great  many  cities  of 
the  countiy  the  sidewalks  of  residential  streets  are  altogether 
too  wide.  Some  of  thorn  are  now  being  narrowed  to  affoid 
a  parking  sone  for  automobiles.  Guesswork  methods  have 
in  various  departments  of  municipal  administration  proved 
costly  beyond  calculation,  but  nowhere  more  demonstrablj 
so  than  in  comparison  with  the  figured  terms  of  what  a 
street  is  ''xpected  to  do. 

It  has  been  suggested,  however,  that  a  street  is  something 
more  than  a  mere  sUt  between  houses  for  traffic  to  squeese 
through,  and  that  those  who  work  or  dwell  vpon  its  borders 
have  at  least  as  much  interest  in  its  width  and  arrangement 
as  those  who  pass  along  its  surface.  In  a  word,  it  has  been 
urged  that  the  city  authorities  should  give  more  attention 
to  the  sociological  significance  of  the  street,  to  its  importance 
as  an  area  of  sunlight  and  ventilation,  of  recreation  and 
play.«  All  this  is  quite  true.  Mean  streets,  as  some  one 
»J«r^  rol~  wswdinf  n»dw»y  widtlu  adopted  by  the  Bowd  of 

SiriifS^*" °?i,*^P*il^ car  t«ok, a»a hay. 60p« o«tof  tha 
•tojrt  width  devoted  to  roadway  «rheB  the  entire  width  to  between  » 

ia  between  fiO  and  60  feet;  they  .haU  have  60  pi  e«m  Awtodto  wS 

*f^»^t^J  ******  "  mow  than  86  feet  8  inehea  in  width  the  roadww 
■haU  be  W  per  eent  of  the  entin  width  le«i20feet    me?!  2£t? 

S"'^. ''?•  •^•«1«  ""•»' *»«k  the  roadway  Si  iTJreLeb^ 

Sri?£  t£  A!*  *•  *~^  ^'  •  double  line  the  romiway  d»a 

A 1^^'  T^f^'^'l'Plf  Sofiolocr  of  a  Stieet  Layout."  in  Annah  of  lh$ 
American  Acad^y  of  PdiHeat  and  Social  5ei«KeT(wh^le  voVK^bZ. 
<n»  and  Totm  PbuMJiv.  1014).  19.  iaS-199.  «"•»  ™.  i**.  «««.■ 


86 


has  well  said,  make  mMuip«opl0.  It  ii  not  so  nraeh  berauM 
they  an  too  iurow  or  othenrte  inadequatdj  planned  aa 
because  they  are  iU  paved,  poorly  cleaned,  or  badly  lighted, 
and  because  th^  have  not  been  properly  protected  by  build- 
ing laws  and  by  regulations  to  prevoit  oongeation.  It  has 
been  recoromended  that  the  widOi  of  a  street  should  take  into 
account  the  hei|^t  of  adjaoent  buildings;  but  a  more  sen- 
sible plan  is  to  regulate  the  building  beighta  in  aeeordanoe 
with  street  widths.  A  few  fcH  more  or  less  in  width  will 
not  make  a  street  a  sociological  or  an  eccmomic  success; 
it  is  the  upkeep  which  in  this  req>ect  becomes  all-important. 
If  streets  were  property  planned,  however,  the  task  (tf  ke^ 
ing  them  in  decent  order  wouki  of  ooune  be  greatly 
simplified. 

As  a  rule  the  streets  constitute  from  25  to  35  per  cent  of 
the  city's  entire  area.*  The  oUer  cities,  in  which  the  streeto 
are  likely  to  be  narrow  and  crooked,  approach  the  lower  hSUtS^ 
percentage;  but  modem  dty  i<lanning  follows  the  policy 
of  aUowing  at  least  40  per  cent  of  the  total  area  for  thorou^ 
fares.  Washington  has  proportionately  a  burger  street  area 
than  any  other  dty  in  America.  L'Enfuit  was  prodigal 
in  his  street  aDowanoes,  devoting  over  60  per  cent  of  the 
city's  area  to  this  purpoae.  It  is  an  interesting  fact,  on  the 
other  hand,  that  in  ahnost  every  other  large  American  dty 
the  width  allotted  to  streets  in  the  dowEhtown  sections  of  the 
city,  where  the  traffic  is  heaviest,  is  relatively  much  smaller 
than  that  given  in  the  suburban  and  out^ring  districts,  where 
the  traffic  is  light.  The  reason  for  this  disparity  is,  of  course, 
that  the  down-town  streets  were  hud  out  in  earlier  days,  with 
little  expectation  that  they  wouU  evw  be  the  commerdal 
arteries  of  a  great  community. 


« The  ertfanated  area  OnolttcHnf  an^ri)  l«  fai  Borton  »  p«  oent,  fa  Hifl- 
phi»29pero«it.faNewYflrk  85  p«  cent,  «id  fa  Wadifagton  64  p« 


cent"    Cf.  _. 

York.  1913),  p.  316. 


mm 


86      PRmCIPLU  Of  MUNICIPAL  ADMINIVnUTIOM 


had  for 


1. 
tioabriHI. 


a.  AequW- 
tionbypur- 


BCm  LAND  fOR  ITinn  B  AOQUmD 

Th«  luid  tued  for  itreeto  nuy  be  Mquired  by  the  dty  ii 
any  one  <ii  three  wftye.  In  the  iBnt  plMe,  it  may  be  fhr«i 
to  the  oity  by  priyftteownen  in  oonneetion  with  their  eeheaci 
of  property  <iBvebpment.  This  to  often  the  eeee  with  r»> 
gud  to  new  itreete  in  lubtirbMi  or  cmtlying  dietiiets.  Ia- 
dividuele  or  lyndieetee  obtain  tracts  of  unoceui^ed  land  for 
development  and  sale.  This  land  they  survey  into  btdldiaf 
lots  with  due  reservations  for  streets,  and  the  more  libenl 
the  allowanees  for  streets,  the  more  valuable,  within  reaa(»> 
able  bounds,  the  lots  are  likely  to  become.  The  street 
allowances  are  then  offered  to  the  dty,  which  may  "accept" 
them  either  by  ordinance  or  l^  formal  order,*  whereupoa 
they  become  regular  streets  of  the  city,  the  latter  assuming 
all  the  responsibilitieB  attaching  to  thdr  maintenance.  Li 
cities  outside  of  New  Eni^d  the  street  is  often  ahready  con* 
struoted  and  even  paved  by  the  original  owners  before  beii^ 
offered  to  the  city ;  but  hi  Eastern  citiee  as  a  rule  and  in 
Western  municipdities  to  some  extent  only  the  strip  of  land 
is  given, — the  city  is  left  to  assume  tibe  woric  and  «»• 
pense  of  construction. 

In  the  second  place,  the  city  may  itsdf  purchase  in  tin 
open  market  such  land  as  it  needs  for  laying  out  new 
streets  or  for  widening  old  ones.  This  policy  is  not  coBh 
mon,  and  when  resorted  to  is  usually  attended  with  serious 
difficulties.  In  buying  land  for  streets  or  for  any  other 
purpose  the  city  is  at  a  great  disadvantage;  for  it  muirt 
inevitably  disclose  its  entire  plan  to  the  adjacent  property* 
holders,  who  are  likely  to  hold  out  for  hig^  prices.  Many 
owners  must  be  bargained  with,  and  if  any  one  of  th«n 
stands  fast  for  an  exorbitant  price  his  action  blocks  the 
whole  schone.    There  are  times  when  the  city  and  ths 

*  Not  infraqnently  many  anoh  itneti  remain  "onaeeeptedt"  or  pcivatflb 
ways.  In  Cambridge,  Mass.,  fur  exampto,  th«re  aie  about  ei^teoD  and 
«»  half  milea  of  tbeiw  inivate  atrarta. 


t7 


piiT»te  owiMn  eta  Join  hMub  in  ft  fi$n  of  itnet  iiBproT»> 
ment  undor  whieh  the  ownara  atH  Iftnd  to  th«  city  ftt  ft  priee 
favorftbto  to  tht  Iftttor;  bttt  th«M  oeeftftUmi  ftre  not  rwy 
frequent.  Ae  ft  role  the  eitjr,  iii«i  it  wftntt  ft  tnMl  of  Iftod, 
must  newt  to  the  third  |dftn  of  ftequMtion. 

Thii  third  method  it  to  ftcquire  Iftnd  by  emideniafttioa 
proceedinp,  or  by  whftt  it  more  oommonfy  OftUed  ft  "tftUng," 
a  procen  thftt  mfty  be  mftde  eleftrer  by  ft  word  or  two  ftbont 
the  principle  of  eminent  domftin.  It  if  ft  |ei>  -  rule 
of  law  thftt  the  domain,  or  potentiftl  ri|^t,  of  f  <  ;.\,^ 
state  over  all  privftte  propoty  ia  emmaU  or  p..  rjoai. 
The  nation  or  the  state  may  tftke  ftny  pri^wte  property  ftt 
any  tiuie  for  ftny  public  purpoee,  proi^ed  fthrftya  (ftiid  thia 
provieo  is  very  important)  Uiat  the  private  owner  shall  be 
justly  eompensftted.  This  requirement  aa  to  Just  eom- 
penaation  is  nude  in  both  the  ufttiimftl  ftnd  the  stftte  ooor 
stitutions.  The  stftte  which  possesses  the  power  to  "oon- 
demn"  or  ti^  land  for  a  public  purpose  may,  furthermore, 
convey  its  ftuthority  to  ft  dty  or  ftny  other  pubUe  hody ; 
or  it  may,  and  frequently  does,  give  such  powers  to  ft 
semi-pubUe  corporation,  lUce  a  raihroad  company.  Whan 
this  ia  done,  the  city  or  the  rai*  '>ftd  compftny,  aa  the  ease 
may  be,  is  privileged  to  eimc.  the  state's  full  ri|^t  of 
eminent  domain  for  its  own  qua. .  ^blie  benefit.* 

To  take  land  for  any  street-improvement  project  ia  to 
take  it  for  a  pvhlic  pur]|-5?,  and  consequently  wadx  action 
is  usually  perL.  <^Jble  provided  due  compensation  be  givm.* 
When  a  city  desiree  to  secure  land  for  such  puiposes,  a(y 
cordingly,  it  does  not  have  to  bargain  witii  the  private 
owners.  Aftw  complying  with  various  legal  prehminftries, 
it  prepares  a  plan  and  spedficationa  of  the  land  needed  and 
deposits  these,  t(^ether  with  a  formal  notice,  in  the  registiy 

>  A  fnU  diioiuiicm  of  tlw  ndM  xalatiiic  to  emiaant  domain  any  b*  fooad 
in  John  F.  Dilkm's  ComiiunUirte$  m  Ik*  Lam  af  MwnUipal  CmprntMom 
(5th  ed.,  5  vda.,  Boaton.  1011),  t(4.  IB,  eh.  ndL 

*  IB  soBtt  stfttM  tin  nmtritg  of  talriwg  uM  laiid  tM  a  Mboo  ptttpoflii 
M  well  M  tbe  amamt  tj  tewpwieeWwi,  mrt  be  ntiilMtonljr  eatablidMd. 


S. 
tkahgr 


Bow  ■ 


Whatoon- 
■UtutMjust 
oompoiM- 
tkmr 


88       PRINCIPLES  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

of  deeds  or  other  depository  provided  by  law ;  whereupon 
the  title  to  such  land  passes  to  the  city.  If  the  land  is 
already  occupied  or  built  upon,  the  occupants  are  notified 
to  vacate  within  a  certain  time.  Then  comes  the  award  of 
compensation,  or  "damages/'  as  it  is  more  commonly 
termed.  Such  awards  are  offered  to  the  various  private 
owners,  in  the  first  instance,  by  the  city  authorities.  The 
values  are  estimated  with  care  by  the  street  commisdonem, 
or  some  similar  authority,  in  consultation  with  the  city's 
law  department,  and  an  attempt  is  made  to  award  what 
the  land  is  really  worth,  the  assessed  value  and  the  market 
value  as  adjudged  by  experts  being  both  taken  into  account. 
The  sums  thus  fixed  are  then  tendered  as  compensation.^ 

In  the  opinion  of  the  private  owners  these  awards  are 
almost  invariably  too  low.  They  are  rarely  accepted  with- 
out protest,  and  are  often  flatly  declined.  The  owner  may 
ask  to  have  the  award  increased,  and  the  city  authorities, 
in  order  to  avoid  litigation,  may  meet  the  owner  halfway 
by  increasing  their  offer.  By  patient  negotiation  it  is  oftoi 
possible  to  bring  all  parties  together  on  the  matter  of  com- 
pensation, but  if  such  endeavors  fail  the  question  as  to 
what  constitutes  "just  compensation"  must  be  determined 
by  the  courts.  Declining  the  city's  award,  the  owns 
brings  suit,  and  in  due  course  the  issue  usually  comes  before 
a  jury.  The  city  and  the  owner  produce  their  evidence  as 
to  the  value  of  the  land  taken;  real-estate  experts  and 
valuators  appear  on  behalf  of  each  party ;  the  matter  is,th«i 
left  to  the  jurymen,  and  the  figure  which  they  decide  upon 
is  what  the  owner  gets.  But  even  from  tUs  jury  award 
an  appeal  may  sometimes  be  taken  by  either  party,  and  thai 
the  matter  goes  for  review  to  a  higher  court.    Litigation  in 

*  The  beat  shOTt  diaonadon  of  the  inmoedure  uaoiJly  followed  in  laid 
taidngi  for  muoioiiMl  improvementa  ia  that  contained  in  Flavel  Shnr^ 
Iflff  and  F.  L.  Olnuted'a  Carrying  out  the  City  Plan  (New  Toric,  1014).  eh. 
ii.  For  a  detailed  explanation,  aee  the  article  on  "Prooeedinca  to  Condann 
Property,"  in  CyOopedia  of  Lav  and  Proetdurt  (ed.  IKHUam  Maek,  40  Yulbu, 
New  Toric,  1001-1912).  xv.  806-687. 


I, 


STREETS 


80 


land-taking  cases  is,  however,  so  tedious  and  expensive 
that  both  sides  try  to  avoid  it  when  they  can.  Moreover, 
the  jury  awards  in  such  oases  are  rarely  satisfactory ;  for, 
since  the  laymen  who  make  up  the  jury  have  Uttle  or  no 
personal  knowledge  of  land  values,  th^  must  perforce 
form  their  opinions  from  the  widely  diverging  estimates  of 
the  experts  who  are  hired  to  testify  by  the  respective  parties 
to  the  suit. 

The  system  of  land  taking  for  public  improvements  has 
given  rise  to  various  abuses.  Not  infrequently  it  happens 
that  shrewd  politicians  obtain  advance  information  con- 
cerning the  city's  street-building  projects,  and  either  get 
options  upon  or  actually  purchase  land  that  is  about  to  be 
taken  in  connection  with  such  plans.  Then  by  using  their 
influence  with  the  city  authorities  they  manage  to  secure 
an  offer  which  is  highfy  favorable  to  themselves  and  which 
enables  them  to  unload  the  property  on  the  city  at  a  large 
profit  upon  the  purchase  price.  To  checkmate  this  prac- 
tice the  laws  in  some  cases  provide  that  a  city  shall  not, 
by  way  of  voluntary  award,  pay  more  for  any  piece  of  land 
than  a  certain  small  percentage  above  its  assessed  value. 
This  is  a  wholesome  provision  in  general;  but,  where 
assessed  values  are  low,  it  has  sometimes  operated  to  work 
an  injustice  upon  bona  fide  owners  and  so  compelled  them 
to  resort  to  expensive  litigation  in  order  to  get  a  just  com- 
pensation. Divers  other  abuses  sometimes  arise  in  con- 
nection with  the  i^Btem  of  land  taking,  but  most  of  them 
result  from  the  susceptibility  of  the  city  authorities  to  sinister 
influence.* 

Under  the  constitutional  provisions  that  exist  in  most 
states  of  the  Union  it  is  not  allowable  to  condemn  land  ^^y* 
exceja  for  a  public  purpote.    Neither  the  state  nor  the  city  uk»  had. 


■  Data  on  thaae  matten  may  be  fmiiid  in  W.  B.  Dowd't  diwuMfam  of 
condenuiation  proeeedinga,  in  the  ilftany  Law  Jowrtud,  Ixz.  291-293  (Oeto> 
ber,  1906) ;  and  in  the  imiort  <m  Coat  cf  CtndemtuOion  Proe—iing$,  iieaed 
by  the  Merehute'  Awoeiation  oT  New  Tcric  aty  in  1904. 


90       PRINCIPLBS  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


can  take  property  from  a  private  owner  in  order  that  it 
may  be  resold  to  some  other  private  owner  and  turned  by 
him  to  his  individual  use.    Now,  what  is  a  public  purpose  f 
On  this  point  the  courts  have  been  very  liberal.    To  take  land 
for  streets,  parks,  police  stations,  schoolhouses,  hospitals, 
and  so  on  is  clearly  to  take  for  public  use ;  likewise  it  has 
been  held  allowable  to  take  for  such  things  as  street-rail- 
way terminab,  subway  stations,  garbage-reduction  plants, 
or  power-houses.     But  in  no  case  may  a  city,  under  the 
usual  provisions  relating  to  the  exercise  of  its  rights  to 
condemn  land,  take  more  than  it  actually  needs  for  the 
purpose  in  hand.    If  it  requires  only  a  part  of  a  sin^ 
lot,  it  may  sometimes  take  the  entu«  lot  and  resell  what 
it  finds  unneeded  when  the  work  is  done.^    But  in  general 
it  may  go  no  farther.    It  is  not  allowed,  for  example,  to 
take  a  wide  strip  on  either  side  of  a  new  street  with  the 
avowed  purpose  of  surveying  these  strips  into  building  lots 
which  may  be  sold  for  private  use.* 
The  constitutional  limitations  which  prevent  the  taking 
£tt»ti^    of  1»^<*  for  strictly  private  purposes  are  sound  in  motive, 
enhueethe  but  they  have  frequently  stood  in  the  way  of  much-needed 
■tMrtim-     street  improvements.    In  the  congested  parts  of  any  city, 
p«w«»«»t*  for  example,  the  project  of  widening  a  thoroughfare  is  bound 
to  be   very  expensive   because   of  the   heavy    compen- 
sation that  must  be  awarded  for  land  taken.    On  the  oth« 
hand,  great  benefits  accrue  to  the  private  property  which 
lies  just  beyond  the  zone  of  widening.    Although  the  value 
of  such  property  is  greatly  enhanced,  the  city  can  secure 
but  a  small  fraction  of  this  profit  by  levying  betterments; 
for  the  general  laws  usually,  though  not  always,  provide 
that  only  a  part  of  the  cost  of  a  pubUo  improvement  may 

'  Pot  example,  hM  the  powers  conferred  on  cities  in  Massachusetts  by 
the  so-termed  "Remnant  Act"  of  1904  lM<utaehutUa  AeU  and  Rudutt, 
1904,  ch.  443). 

» These  constitutional  questions  are  discussed  by  Philip  Nichols,  Tht 
Power  of  Eminent  Domain,  a  Treatiee  on  the  Conatitutional  Prineiphe  wkM 
affect  the  Taking  of  Property  for  PvMie  Vet  (Boston,  1909). 


STBIBTB 


tl 


be  levied  by  way  of  betterment  taxes  upon  the  adjacent 
property  that  is  benefited.^  In  Massachusetts  this  proportion 
is  50  per  cent.  But  why  should  not  the  city,  which  pays 
for  the  improvement,  get  the  full  benefit  of  the  enhanced 
values?  Obvioui'ly,  to  obtain  this  it  is  necessary  that  the 
city  shall  have  th<3  right  to  buy  all  property  which  comes 
near  enough  to  the  improvement  to  be  increased  in  value 
thereby,  and  not  be  restricted  to  the  taking  of  only  such 
land  as  is  actually  needed  for  the  improvement  itself.  By 
reselling  the  surplus  land  after  the  improvement  is  finidxed 
it  can  get  back  a  large  part  of  its  total  outlay. 

There  is,  moreover,  another  phase  of  the  question.  When 
a  city  takes  only  sudi  land  as  it  actually  needs  to  widen  a  9^^*^ 
street,  the  remnants  of  the  original  lots  left  on  either  side  nmiu. 
of  the  widened  street  are  usually  not  suitable  for  building 
purposes.  Being  nothing  but  small  triangles  and  squares 
of  land,  they  are  of  little  use  unless  they  can  be  consolidated 
with  the  lots  behind  them.  To  combine  them  by  any  pro- 
cess of  volimtary  bargaining  is  so  difScult,  however,  that, 
as  experience  has  frequently  shown,  a  widened  street  may 
remain  for  years  with  unbuilt  shreds  and  patches  of  land 
on  both  sides  of  it.  If,  however,  the  city  were  permitted 
to  take  a  strip  of  land,  say  one  hundred  feet  in  depth,  on 
either  side  of  the  newly  widened  thoroughfare,  it  mi^t  then 
lay  out  suitable  lots,  sell  these  to  private  purchasers  to  be 
built  upon  under  good  regulations  both  as  to  fire-proof 
construction  and  proper  architectural  appearance,  and  in 
this  way  might  not  only  recoup  itself  in  substantial  part 
for  the  original  outlay,  but  greatly  facilitate  the  rebuilding 
of  abutting  property. 


THE  EXCESS  CONDEMNATION  OF  LAND  FOB  STREEra 

To  make  all  this  posdble,  some  states  have  enacted  general 
laws  providing  for  the  exercise  of  what  is  commonly  termed  dwuMtkn. 

'  In  New  York  City,  for  «E»m|^  tlw  ratira  omt  may  be  m  levied. 


92       PRINCIPLES  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


Itamerite. 


Itopoiribie 

•biiM. 


the  right  of  excess  condemnation,  in  other  words  the  ri^t 
to  condemn  more  land  than  is  actually  needed  for  a  public 
improvement  and  to  sell  the  excess  for  private  use  after  the 
work  is  done.     In  some  states  constitutional  amendments 
have  been  necessary  before  such  powers  could  be  conferred, 
and  the  required  amendments  have  been  made.^    So  far 
as  street  widenings  are  concerned,  the  power  of  excess  con- 
demnation permits  the  city  to  take  not  only  the  land  that 
is  directly  needed  for  the  undertaking,  but  also  so  much  as 
may  be  necessary  to  provide  proper  building  lots  on  either 
side  of  the  street.    In  some  cases  the  right  has  been  ex- 
tended to  the  taking  of  land  for  parks  and  public  buildings, 
the  procedure  being  the  same  as  in  ordinary  land  takings 
and  the  compensation  determined  in  the  same  way.    Clearly, 
the  excess-condemnation  plan  gives  a  city  greater  freedom  in 
financing  its  street  improvements,  particularly  when  the 
repayment  of  any  large  portion  of  the  cost  by  means  of 
special  assessments  or  betterments  seems  to  be  impracticable. 
If  judiciously  used,  it  may  also  facilitate  the  replanning  of 
congested  districts.    It  seems,  indeed,  to  be  about  the  only 
channel  through  which  the  American  city  can  fully  protect 
its  pubKc  property  from  being  surrounded  by  ill-assorted 
and  unsightly  private  structures. 

Yet  it  ought  to  be  emphasized  that  this  new  freedom  in  the 
matter  of  land  taking  may  readily  lead  to  abuses.  The 
American  city,  as  every  one  seems  to  realize,  is  a  poor  bar- 
gainer. It  pays  the  high-water-mark  price  for  what  it  buys 
and  gets  the  very  lowest  figure  for  what  it  sells.  If  cities  de- 
velop the  habit  of  projecting  large  street-widening  schemes 
on  the  theory  that  they  can  come  out  with  a  profit,  they  are 
sure  to  be  sf.dly  disillusioned.  Nothing  could  be  farther 
from  the  best  interests  of  the  American  city  than  that  it 

>  Thew  stetes  kk  MassMhuietts,  Ohio,  WiMwiuin,  and  New  Twk. 
The  text  of  the  amendments  is  printed  in  Flavel  Shurtleff  and  P.  L.  Ohn- 
sted's  Carrying  out  the  CUy  Plan  (New  York,  1914),  Appmdix,  pp.  278- 


8TR1BT8 


should  be  drawn  into  any  carnival  of  land  speculation  so 
long  as  its  affairs  are  handled  by  the  class  of  officials  usually 
controlling  its  administrative  departments.  There  is  every 
chance  for  mismanagemeut,  favoritism,  and  speculation  in 
the  freedom  which  an  excess-condemnation  amendment 
allows,  and  there  is  urgent  need  that  it  be  used  with  the 
greatest  moderation.* 

Although  the  excess-condemnation  policy  is  somewhat 
new  in  An*  erica,  it  has  long  since  been  followed  a  the  cities  Vmimn 
of  foreign  countries,  where  no  constitutional  barriers  have  '*'*^*" 


nattan. 


ever  inti  rposed  to  prevent  the  taking  of  land  for  any  pur- 
pose whatever.  The  first  exemplification  of  wue  policy  on  a 
large  scale  was  in  connection  with  Baron  Haussmann's 
construction  of  the  Paris  boulevards  during  the  period  of 
the  Second  Empire.  The  Paris  authorities  condemned  wide  '■»'* 
swaths  of  territory  through  which  the  new  boulevards  were 
projected,  and  paid  enonr.ous  sums  in  compensation  to  their 
owners.  Then  the  broad  avenues  were  built,  and  the  Utnd 
on  either  side,  after  being  cut  up  into  lots,  was  offprod  for 
sale.  It  sold  readily  end  brought  good  prices;  but  the 
proceeds  were  far  below  expectations,  and  the  net  cast  of 
the  whole  venture  was  immense.  Whether  i1;  would  have 
been  less  if  France  had  possessed  a  workable  scheme  of 
assessing  a  part  of  the  cost  in  betterments  upon  neighboring 
property,  is  a  qu»tion  which  cannot  be  answered.  At  any 
rate,  the  experiment  was  not  regarded  in  French  official 
circles  as  a  financial  success,  rnd  on  the  whole  the  experience 
of  other  cities  in  continental  Europe  has  bem  much  the 
same.' 

>  For  furtho-  disouiaicHU  ol  this  matter,  lee  FUvel  EOrartMr  i  .  L. 
Olmsted's  Canyirtf  out  thi  CUy  Plan,  oh.  Iv;  abo  the  artiok  on  ■  ^.xeen 
Condemnation  ud  Publie  Uee,"  by  A.  W.  Crawford,  in  Pnettdingi  vi  Out 
Second  National  Confennet  on  CU^  PUmnint  (1910),  pp.  11^163;  and  the 
report  entitled  InddenUd  te.  Exetn  Condtmnation,  by  John  DeWitt 
Warner,  inaed  by  the  Dq^artmoit  of  Doeka  and  Fttriee  of  New  Y<»k 
City  in  1912. 

•  There  is  a  full  dieeotiifm  of  Uie  Parie  and  DrosselB  eaqj^meats  in 
ReporU  of  the  MauaekvMtta  ConumMJOM  on  tk»  Right  of  EminnU  Domain 


94       PRINCIPLES  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

London  has  also  undertaken  many  public  improvements 
London.  dunng  the  past  fifty  years  under  somewhat  similar  ar> 
rangements  in  regard  to  the  excess  condemnation  of  land. 
The  most  recent  enterprise  of  the  sort  on  a  large  scale  is  the 
King's  Way,  which  now  nus  from  Holbom  to  the  Strand. 
Financially  the  resiilts  liave  proved  to  be  better  than  those 
secured  in  Paris,  but  the  net  cost  of  the  new  highway  is  at 
least  two  million  dollars  more  than  the  authorities  counted 
upon.  It  is  easy  to  demonstrate,  therefore,  that  too  much 
stress  should  not  be  laid  upon  European  experience  in  the 
matter  of  the  financial  advantages  to  be  derived  from  the 
policy  of  excess  condemnation.  Since,  even  with  the  great 
skill  and  sound  judgment  which  the  city  authorities  of  Paris 
and  London  are  accustomed  to  display  in  guarding  the  finan- 
cial interests  of  their  municipaUties,  the  balance  does  not 
come  out  on  the  right  side,  one  can  well  imagine  what  the 
usual  result  would  be  in  the  cities  of  this  country.  At  the 
same  time  it  ought  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  financial 
question  is  not  the  only  one  involved.  Even  though  the 
excess-condemnation  procedure  be  the  more  expensive  plais, 
it  may  nevertheless  be  the  better  one.  Only  by  using  it 
can  the  city,  in  some  cases,  get  what  it  really  wants.  This  is 
particularly  true  when  the  city's  initial  control  of  abut- 
ting property  is  necessaiy  to  proper  rebuilding  by  private 
purchasers. 

When  land  is  needed  for  new  streets  or  for  the  enlarge* 
ment  of  existing  ones,  or  when  streets  are  improved  or  le- 
paved,  it  is  the  custom  in  many  American  cities  to  assess 
at  least  a  part  of  the  cost  upon  neighboring  property  in 
ments.  accordance  with  the  benefit  or  betterment  which  the  latter 
is  presumed  to  derive  from  the  improvement.  The  origin 
of  this  plan,  the  procedure  followed,  and  the  results  ob- 
tained are  matters  that  will  be  discussed  in  a  later  chap- 

(Massaohusetts  House  Documents,  Nob.  288,  1006),  issued  in  1904;  bat 
these  documents  are  now  out  of  print.  Some  extracts  are  given,  however, 
in  Shurtleff  and  Olmsted's  Carrying  otU  tkt  City  Plan,  Appendix  B. 


Financing 
the  cost  of 
new  streets 
b]rq>ecial 


8TRBKIT8 


06 


ter.'  The  practice  should  be  mtintioued  here,  however,  as 
an  alternative  to  the  scheme  of  recoupment  by  excess  con- 
demnation. It  does  not  give  the  city  the  advantages  in  the 
way  :-f  architectural  development  which  the  latter  method 
affords,  but  from  a  imanoial  point  of  view  there  is  much  to 
be  said  in  its  favor.  As  between  the  two  plans,  the  issue  is 
whether  or  not  the  actual  ownership  of  neighboring  private 
property  is  essential  to  the  real  success  of  a  public  under* 
taking. 


METHODS  OF  SfTREET  GONff^RUCTION 

When  new  streets  or  street  reconstructions  have  been 
planned,  when  the  land  has  been  secured  and  the  project  Theooo- 
financfid,  the  next  problem  is  that  of  construction.  There  •(!«•(■. 
are  two  methods  imder  which  this  work  of  construction 
can  be  performed.  One  is  commonly  known  as  the  con- 
tract plan,  the  other  as  the  dirKi  system;  and  these  two 
methods  are  optional  not  only  for  street  making  but  for 
public  works  of  every  flort,  —  sewen,  waterworks,  public 
buildings,  bridges,  dockv..  and  so  forth.  Each  plan  has  its 
advocates  and  each  has  been  pursued,  with  varying  degrees 
of  failure  and  success,  by  every  large  city  in  the  coimtry. 
There  is  no  inherent  reason  why  one  policy  should  be  much 
better  than  the  other.  An  undertaking  requires  so  much 
material,  so  much  superintendence,  and  so  much  labor. 
Why  should  any  of  these  things  cost  one  man  more  than 
another  in  the  open  market  ?  Why  should  the  head  of  the 
city's  construction  department  be  either  better  able  or  less 
able  to  handle  public  work  than  a  private  contractor? 
With  political  considerations  wholly  out  of  the  way,  there 
would  be  no  good  reason  in  either  case.  Such  considerations 
are,  however,  never  wholly  out  of  the  way,  and  their  pres- 
ence makes  the  question  a  purely  practical  one  of  quite  local 
application.    Either  plan  may  prove  itself  the  brtter  in 

>  See  below,  pp.  436-439. 


Theeon- 

tTMtud 

dinet 

oratanu: 

thairtd*- 

ttramoit*. 


96       PRINC1FLB8  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

one  city  and  not  in  another;  the  local  adminirtrative  eon* 
ditionB  will  be  the  chief  determining  factor. 

Under  the  eontrad  gysiem,  as  the  term  implies,  the  plans 
and  specifications  are  prepared  by  the  dty  authorities, 
proposals  are  called  for,  some  one  proposal  is  formally  a©- 
cepted,  a  contract  is  signed,  and  the  contractor  fumishes 
both  labor  and  materials.    Under  the  direct  system  the 
municipal  authorities  (that  is,  the  commissioner  of  public 
works,  the  superintendent  of  streets,  or  other  off  ^ids  in 
charge)  not  only  plan  the  work  but  purchase  the  materials 
and  furnish  the  labor.    Both  systems,  in  actual  operation 
under  city  conditions  as  thqr  exist  to-day,  disclose  sub- 
stantial  merits  and   defects.     Both  plans  have  earnest 
advocates  among  men  who  oug^t  to  know  something  about 
the  subject,  and  the  plausibility  with  which  each  group  can 
argue  in  favor  of  its  own  methods  shows  that  there  is  much 
to  be  said  on  both  sides.    This  is  chiefly  because  the  ad- 
herents  of  the  two  plans  approach  the  question  from  diffe^ 
ent  points  of  view.    The  friends  of  the  contract  system  lay 
particular  stress  on  the  strictly  economic  aspecte  of  the 
matter,  the  rapidity  and  cheapness  of  the  work  in  hand. 
Those  who  favor  the  direct  plan,  on  the  other  side,  give 
more  weight  to  social  considerations,  such  as  the  better  pay- 
ment of  laborers  and  the  more  humane  treatment  accorded 
them.     Here,  as  at  a  good  many  other  points  in  the 
study  of  municipal  administration  viewed  as  a  practical 
science,  one  meeto  the  conflict  of  economic  and  social 

motives.^  .  . 

On  the  whole  the  contract  system  of   mumcipal  conr 

M«:iu*nd    Btruction,  whether  appUed  to  streets  or  to  other  public 

SStiSact  work,  is  probably  the  cheaper  method.    The  contractor 

""»«•       secures  his  men  at  less  cost  and  he  gets  more  work  from 

1  There  ia  a  good  briet  ■ammwy  of  the  »*taau^JKomi  OMi,  to 
Samuel  Whinery'i  Municipal  PMie  Work,  (New  Yo*^W«0.  «*•»». 
So  in  H.  P.  Eddy*'  l»P« «»  "TJ"  Retotive  Effleieii«y  ol  the  D^  Uboi 
and  Contract  Syrtems  of  doing  Mnnidpal  Work,"  to  /a«rmrt  iiftk»Am- 
dated  Engineenng  Soeietiea,  xliv.  24-40  (January.  WIO). 


BTBUn 


07 


them.    As  »  ruto  he  ewi  buy  his  msterisls  to  better  ad- 
vantage, and  almost  invariably  he  gets  the  job  done  more 
quickly.    The  contract  method  is,  indeed,  the  only  prac- 
ticable one  when  a  dty  desires  to  have  a  great  deal  of  work 
done  within  a  short  time,  for  the  city's  regular  Ubor  force 
cannot  be  increased  and  decreased  easily.    When  a  laborer 
once  gets  on  a  dty  pay-roll  he  is  hard  to  dislodge.    On 
the  other  hand,  the  contract  qrstem  opens  the  door  to 
numerous  abuses.    Contracts  are  often  awarded  on  grounds 
of  poUtical  favoritism,  without  real  competition  or  advei^ 
tising.    Frequently,  too,  the  plans,  qiedfications,  and  con- 
tractor's bond  are  so  carelessly  drawn  as  to  leave  numerous 
loopholes,  and  then  the  dty  is  sure  to  pay  far  more  than 
the  work  is  worth.    Evan  when  contracts  are  publicly  and  • 
fairly  awarded  to  the  lowest  bidder,  abuses  sometimes  arise 
through  a  failure  of  the  dty's  officials  to  see  that  the  work 
conforms  strictly  to  the  pUis  and  specifications.    To  make 
sure  of  this  conformance  a  great  deal  of  careful  and  honest 
inspection  is  necessary ;  but,  since  inspection  of  that  sort 
costs  money,  it  is  not  always  provided.    Moreover,  imless 
the  greatest  care  is  taken,  eoUudon  between  the  dty's  in- 
spectors and  the  contractor  is  an  ever-present  contingency. 
Nearly  every  large  American  dty  has  had  some  costfy 
lessons  on  this  point. 

Many  endeavors  have  been  made,  by  providons  in  aty 
charters  and  ordinances,  to  safeguard  the  dty  against  the  Jjj^ 
waste  of  mon^  which  the  contract  method  of  doing  public  v«Mmb« 
work  has  so  often  involved ;  but  as  a  rule  such  pro'ririons  JST^ 
either  prove  euy  to  evade  or  else  tie  the  hands  of  the  dty  tmMi 
officials  so  rigidly  that  other  evils  result.    Take,  for  ex- 
ample, the  r^^tion  Aat  all  contracts  must  be  advertised 
and  thrown  open  to  fair  competition.    In  the  case  <rf  small 
enterprises  a  compliance  with  these  requirements  may  entail 
a  sheer  waste  of  time  and  money.    Or,  if  the  contract  be 
one  involving  a  lai|p  undertaking,  it  sometimes  happens 
that  the  various  bidders  agree  among  themsdves  as  to  the 


Cottiuir* 


Sidit 
ooBtraeU. 


96       PRINCIPLIS  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINIWIUTIOK 

price  at  which  iome  one  of  them  ehtU  get  the  Job  m 
the  loweet  bidder.  The  ©there  iubmit  propoeale  that  «• 
much  higher,  and  the  succeedul  bidder  compenwtee  them 
for  their  awirtance  by  aharing  his  profits.  Thia  eyrtem  of 
coUusive  bidding  on  city  contracts  has  mulcted  our  city 
treasuries  in  large  sums ;  yet  it  has  aU  the  external  formi 
of  open  competition  with   a    preference   to  the  lowest 

*  oTthe  other  hand,  if  the  rules  as  to  competition  or  award 
are  not  made  rigid,  the  discretion  that  may  be  lodged  with 
the  mayor  or  with  the  head  of  a  dty  department  is  almos^ 
certain  to  be  abused.    For  example,  if  it  be  V^^^J^^ 
contracts  for  work  amounting  to  less  than  $2000  need  net 
be  awarded  by  open  competition,  the  result  wiU  be,  as  ea- 
perience  shows,  that  large  coni,racts  will  be  spht  up  mto 
Uttle  ones  so  that  each  falls  below  this  amount  and  hence 
can  be  awarded  without  competition.    If  a  street  miproye- 
ment  project,  for  instance,  is  estimated  to  cost  even  a  large 
sum,  the  city  authorities  may  give  one  poUtical  f  avonte  m 
contract  for  demolishing  structures,  another  the  contoact 
for  clearing  away  the  dfibris,  a  third  the  contract  for  gradmg, 
a  'ourth  for  paving,  a  fifth  for  building  the  sidewalks,  and 
BO  on  until  aU  the  contracts  are  below  the  competitive  hmrt. 
The  "spUt-contract"  scheme  has  been  a  favorite  laick  of 
city  officials  whenever  any  leeway  is  allowed  them.     Ai^ 
even  where  the  externals  of  competition  appear  there  is 
often  no  real  competition  at  all.    The  specifications  « 
frequently  so  drafted  as  to  give  a  great  advantage  to  cerUa 
bidders  by  stipulating  for  specified  materials  ''Juch  thqr 
control  either  by  patent  or  otherwise,  or  for  methodsoi 
construction  in  which  they  happen  to  be  proficient.     IM 
practice  of  accepting  "unbalanced  bids"  may  be  cited 

.On  the  method  of  P«^<a»«  «»^,  !^!5^rp!S£ltr^ 
bidding,  aee  Nathan  Matthewi,  Municipal  CharUr,  (Cambridge,  WW 

^'  Isome  definite  figures  on  thi.  point  are  given  by  the  Borton  PInaBW 
Commiaaion.  BtparU,  vii.  31-82  (1912). 


(vnunns 


M  an  exami^  td  anoUMr  iiniiter  pnotiM.  Contneton 
are  asked  to  set  piioM  for  two  puts  of  the  imm  job,  —  for  Piih«iMw< 
constructing  the  concrete  foundation  in  a  ftreet,  for  ex- 
ample, and  for  paving  it.  The  contractor  who  ia  in  league 
with  the  officials  will  take  care  to  bid  high  on  one  part  and 
low  on  the  other ;  whereupon  the  officials  can  make  a  pretence 
of  figuring  out  that  his  two  bids,  when  balanced  together, 
offer  a  better  bargain  than  the  average  figures  of  his  com- 
petitors. In  such  balancing  everything  depends  upon  the 
different  stress  placed  upon  the  two  parts  of  the  work. 

From  such  experience  as  we  have  had  it  may  wdl  be 
doubted  whethw  any  approach  to  a  proper  safeguarding  of  Omhw 
the  contract  system  is  possible.  The  honesty  and  ability  aotT*^ 
with  which  the  dty  officials  look  out  for  the  interests  of  the 
municipal  treasury  are  the  alMmportant  features,  but  it  is 
hard  to  oompd  these  things  by  any  formal  rules  in  a  dty 
charter. 

Public  construction  l^  use  of  the  city's  own  labor  foroe 
is  always  costly.  The  dty*»  labor  is  overpaid ;  it  is  almost  Th««Mwo* 
always  less  efficient  than  that  employed  by  private  con- 
tractors ;  it  has  fewer  hours  of  daily  work ;  it  must  have  » 
half-holiday  (with  pay)  each  week;  and  its  discipline  is 
nearly  always  bad.  So  far  as  the  cost  of  labor  goes,  nothing 
can  be  done  by  the  dty  at  anything  like  the  cost  to  the 
contractor.  So  with  materials ;  although  the  dty  is  a  large 
customer  and  althou|^  its  credit  as  a  customer  is  unim- 
peachable, it  rarely  ever  gets  wholesale  rates  or  cash  dis> 
counts.  It  usually  pays  the  top-notch  price  for  everything. 
The  city  which  undertakes  its  public  work  by  using  its  own 
labor  is  certain,  therefore,  to  pay  well  for  it.^  The  question 
is  whether  it  gets  more  for  the  extra  expenditure.    Does  it 

'It  should  be  mentioiied,  howevw,  that  the  hands  of  eontneton 
are  also  being  oloeely  tied  in  some  states  nowadays  by  laws  rdating  to 
the  eiKht-hoor  day  on  pabUe  oontraets,  by  proyisioas  that  only  dtiiSB 
Isbor  shall  be  employed,  and  so  on.  The  result  is  that  the  diqiaiity 
between  what  unskilled  labor  oosts  the  eoatiaetor  and  what  it  eosts  the 
«ity  is  to  some  extoit  beinc  radnoed. 


100    PRINCIPLI8  OF  M17NI01PAL  ADMINttfnUTION 


IlialtafKl 


get  better  work  ?  Doee  this  qntem  pat  an  end  to  ooUiuion, 
dishonesty,  the  bribing  of  oflkisls,  snd  scamped  woric  is 
gMieral  Y  Do  psvemoits  laid  l^  dty  laborers,  for  esamjde, 
last  tonger  and  need  fewer  repairs  than  those  built  hj 
contractors? 

There  are  those  who  answer  all  these  queries  in  the  afflrauh 
tive.  Work  done  by  day  labor  is  better  work,  they  say; 
and,  furthermore,  the  ousting  of  the  contrac  '-  from  load 
politics  is  something  worth  paying  a  good  deal  for.  Ob 
such  matters,  of  course,  there  must  always  be  diffnoioes  of 
opinion.  The  labor  unions  are  unanimous  in  their  partiality 
to  the  direct  system.  So  are  almost  all  the  foremen  in  tlu 
city's  employ;  and  so  are  some  politicians  who  want  to 
see  the  city's  money  go  to  many  laboring  voters  rather  than 
to  a  few  contractors  who  may  employ  aliens  without  votes. 
But  city  engineers  and  the  hnds  of  departments  who  have 
much  constructing  work  tc  do  are  with  almost  eqtial  una> 
nimity  in  favor  of  the  contract  system.  They  want  thdr 
work  to  be  done  within  the  limits  of  appropriations  made 
for  it,  and  they  want  it  done  quickly.  Unfortunatdy  there 
are  very  few  dependable  figures  to  which  one  may  turn 
for  a  satisfactory  answer  tc  the  whole  question.  Nea^ 
every  city  has  tried  both  plans,  but  rarely  under  exactly 
the  same  conditions.  In  one  undertaking  the  direct  qrston 
seems  to  show  excellent  results;  in  another,  not  widelj 
different  in  nature,  the  cost  proves  excessive  and  the  work 
turns  out  to  have  been  badly  done.  The  arguments  for 
both  systems  are  of  course  based  on  contrary  assumptions: 
the  one  on  the  supposition  that  all  city  oflftdals  are  capable, 
honest,  and  unfettered;  the  other  on  the  equally  absurd 
notion  that  all  contractors  are  upri|^t  in  their  deahngs  with 
labor  and  with  the  municipality.  The  direct  system  as- 
sumes that  city  authorities  are  competent,  zeaJous,  and 
personally  disinterested;  the  contract  plan  assumes  that 
contractors  can  be  held  to  fair  and  honest  dealings  with  the 
city.    Either  or  neither  of  these  assumptions  may  be  well 


101 


founded  in  ptitieubr  eam,  but  in  a  wmtroreiqr  wlitrt 
postulatM  pUy  lueh  a  lai|e  part  it  if  diffleuH  to  get  tmy  fair 
genenl  oonduiion. 

All  fftreet  work,  wlioUier  porfoiiiMd  hy  eootrMt  w  bj  tbt 
city  directly,  ihould  (rf  coutm  be  in  ftMmdanee  with  T^taa 
and  spedfieatioiif  prepared  in  advanee.  The  fdane  ihow 
the  location,  extent,  and  nature  ci  the  work ;  the  epecifiea- 
tione  give  in  detail  tito  mateiiab  and  methods  of  eonitnietion. 
It  goes  without  saying  that  both  diould  be  elear  and  eaq^dt 
and  that  at  no  point  should  one  oonfliot  with  the  otii«r. 
The  preparation  of  both  is  the  woric  either  of  the  dty  en- 
gineer or  of  the  engineor  attached  to  the  street  department. 
To  draft  them  perfect^  is  a  task  requiring  a  hig^  grade  of 
skill  and  experience.  If  qieeifieations  are  too  brief,  the 
danger  is  that  important  matters  are  left  uncovered;  on 
the  other  hand,  an  attempt  to  cover  ev«y  detail  is  Uk^ 
to  result  in  conflicts  and  confusion.  For  every  type  of 
■treet  pav«nent,  howevw,  there  are  now  standard  qied- 
fications,  prq>ared  with  great  care  and  avoiding  pitfalls 
pointed  out  l:^  past  munidpal  experience.*  Nowadays  the 
prudent  engineer  relies  upon  these  rather  than  upon  the 
products  of  his  own  skill  and  ingenui^. 


Them*, 
teriakol 


■ntniT  PAYING 

There  are  many  points  to  condder  in  selecting  the  paving 
material  to  be  used  in  the  construction  of  a  street.  Such 
things,  for  example,  as  the  amount  and  nature  of  the  traffic 
which  the  street  is  likdy  to  bear,  the  character  of  the  dis-  j!^''*** 
trict  which  it  is  to  serve,  the  presence  or  the  absence  of  car  u  i 
tracks,  tiie  dope  of  the  street  and  its  need  of  quiet  on  ac- 
count of  neighboring  hoqritab  or  churches  or  schools,— 
these  and  a  dosen  other  condderations  like  them  must  be 

,  '  For  easeUaitanmplw  MM  the  ohi^lrtaroo  "Plana  and  Spedfloatioiu" 
u  0.  W.  TilUon'i  Stmt  PmnmtnU  amd  Patiit§  UaUrtab  (ad  ad..  New  York, 
1912),  pp.  437-485:  and  SummI  WMamft  Bpteijlettioiu  far  Stntt  Road- 
wy  PoMmmte  (N«w  York,  1W8). 


102     PRINCIPLES  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


The  I 
tialaofa 
sood 
pavement. 


weighed  in  the  balance.    The  wishes  of  those  who  own  <» 
occupy  property  along  the  street,  while  they  should  not  be 
allowed  to  have  controlling  emphasis,  must  at  least  be  con- 
suited ;  and  this  point  of  view  may  be  quite  different  from 
that  of  the  roadway  engineer,  who  is  concerned  chiefly  with 
matters  of  cost  and  durability.    There  is,  accordin^y,  no 
beat  pavement  for  all  streets.    None  but  those  who  have 
special  brands  of  paving  materials  to  sell  ever  seriously 
maintain  the  contrary.    Every  street  has  its  own  special 
requirements,  and  these  ought  to  be  determined  by  a  care- 
ful study  of  all  the  local  factors  involved.    Too  often,  un- 
happily, there  is  no  such  preliminary  study,  no  careful 
survey  of  local  requirements  or  accurate  census  of  traflSc. 
On  the  contrary,  the  really  important  considerations  an 
passed  over,  and  the  city's  decision  as  to  what  kind  <rf 
pp  vement  shall  be  laid  is  determined  either  by  the  whim 
of  certain  influential  property-owners  in  the  vicinity  ot 
by  the  poUtical  pressure  of  some  contractor  who  has  his 
own  specialty  to  sell.    Nothing  else  can  accoimt  for  the 
year-to-year  reversals  in  paving  policy  which  have  proved 
so  costly  to  every  large  city  in  the  land. 

The  ideal  pavement  is,  of  course,  not  hard  to  define.  It 
should  be  inexpensive  both  to  construct  and  to  repair;  it 
should  be  durable,  noiselesr,  easy  to  keep  clean,  and  safe  to 
drive  upon.  If  any  paving  material  could  satisfy  all  these 
demands  it  would  be  used  everywhere ;  it  would  have  no 
serious  competitors.  As  a  naked  fact,  however,  no  kind  of 
pavement  comes  anywhere  near  satisfying  all  these  require- 
ments in  equal  measure.  One  type  is  cheap  but  not  durable ; 
another  is  noisy  to  the  point  of  nuisance,  but  it  outlasts  a 
generation  of  men ;  a  third  is  clean  and  noiseless,  but  slip- 
pery in  damp  weather;  and  so  it  goes.  There  is  not,  and 
probably  never  will  be,  an  ideal  pavement  under  actual 
street  conditions.  On  the  other  hand,  every  tjrpe  has  sonw 
one  strong  point  in  its  favor,  and  if  suflScient  emphasis  be 
laid  on  that  one  point  its  claims  to  use  become  inoont^table. 


STREETS 


103 


The  problem  is  merely  that  of  deciding  where  the  emphasis 
ought  to  be  laid,  whether  on  economy  of  construction,  dura- 
bility, cleanliness,  or  something  dse.  This  settled,  the  task 
of  selection  is  not  so  difficult.^ 

Perhaps  the  matter  may  be  made  clearer  by  the  following 
table,  which  aims  to  show  in  a  general  way  the  principid  ReUttva 
qualities  in  demand  and  the  order  in  which  various  materials  different 
approach  this  demand.    No  doubt  there  are  other  desirable  i>*^'««>«** 
qualities,  but  from  the  average  citizen's  point  of  view 
these  are  the  ones  that  need  most  emphasis. 

Pavements  Abbamokd  in  thbib  Afpboziiiate  Order  of 
Desirabilitt  from  Different  Points  of  Vnw 


EooKomnr 
OomnocRoii 


Macadam 
Aaphalt 
Brick 
Wood    1 
Granite! 


EooKomiii 
RsMia 


Granite 

Brick 

Wood 

Asphalt 

Macadam 


DnuHurr 


Granite 

Wood 

Brick 

Asphalt 

Macadam 


Asi^ialt 

Brick 

Wood 

Granite 

Macadam 


Wood 
Macadam 
Brick    1 
Asphalt/ 
Granite 


SAfKT 


Onmite 
Macadam 


Brick 
Wood 
Asphalt 


Of  course  the  first  question  that  arises  is,  how  should  these 
six  qualities  be  weighed?  Is  cleanliness  more  important 
than  noiselessnew?  Is  safety  or  nonndipperiness  more  im- 
pottant  than  either?  Or  should  th^  all  be  valued  alike? 
Some  highway  engineers  of  the  highest  competence  have 
undertaken  to  score  these  various  things  on  a  basis  of  one 
hundred  points,  but  it  is  doubtful  whether  such  attempts 
at  precision  serve,  on  the  whole,  a  good  purpose.'    Such  a 

'  "An  ideal  pavement  thoold  be  oIm^>,  dural^,  earily  eleaned.  pramit 
little  redatanoe  to  traffic,  nonndippery,  oheaidy  maintained,  favon^  to 
travel,  and  laaitary.  Lettfaig  the  pafeot  pavemeot  have  a  value  of  one 
hundred  by  a  stndy  of  fheee  differait  pnpcrtiea,  it  is  posable  to  aasifn  to 
each  its  propwtional  value  at  the  whfde.*'  —  O.  W.  Tiuaox,  Stnti  Pat*- 
m«n<«  and  Paring  UaUrtaU  (New  Tack,  1012),  pp.  168-100. 

•See  iM.,  oh.  vi.  TiOsra's  rating,  on •  aoale of  100,  is  as Mlows: 
cheapness,  14;  durability,  21;  oleanUnsss,  16;  abssnoe  of  reristanee  to 
traffic.  15;  non-sUpperiaess.  7:  ease  of  sulsteoaafle,  10;  favwaUenesa 
to  traffic  (t.«.  abaoioe  of  mmt  aad  tear  oa  veUehs),  6;  sanitnriBMM,  18. 


104     PRIN0IPLB8  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

quality  as  noiselessness,  -for  example,  may  be  of  the  utmost 
importance  in  streets  in  the  vicinity  of  churches,  schools,  or 
hospitals,  but  of  Uttle  or  no  account  in  streets  that  abready 
carry  an  elevated-railway  structure.  The  man  whose  office 
window  opens  on  a  street  may  have  one  preference,  the 
teamster  outside  quite  another.  No  one  scheme  of  wagh- 
ing  will  suit  all  sections  of  a  city  or  all  classes  among  those 
who  are  entitled  to  be  consulted. 

Nor  would  there  be  unanimous  agreement  as  to  the  ar- 
rangement of  materials  at  every  point.  Under  the  head  of 
economy  in  construction  or  repair,  for  instance,  local  condi- 
tions might  alter  the  order  of  preference  somewhat,  aiJ  it 
may  well  be  that  further  experience  will  prove  some  materials 
to  be  more  durable  than  they  are  now  rated ;  as  regards  the 
noisiness  of  granite  blocks,  moreover,  much  depends  upon 
how  they  are  cut  and  laid;  but  the  iforegoing  table  sumr 
marizes  the  general  situation  under  normal  conditions. 
At  the  present  time  there  are  only  five  types  of  pavement 
that  seem  to  be  worth  considering.  The  cobblestone  pave- 
ments that  were  laid  extensively  in  some  cities  a  generation 
ago  are  not  held  in  favor  to-day.  Granite,  brick,  wood, 
asphalt  (including  concrete,  bitulithic,  and  other  sheet 
paving),  and  crushed  stone  made  into  macadam  or 
telford  roadway  are  the  only  mAterials  that  nowadays  ear 
gage  the  serious  attention  of  highway  engineers.* 

Of  the  various  types,*  cut  stone-block  pavement  is  the 

>  Rmwt  upon  »  oovaptAmdy  idan  fte  th«  devdopinaat  and  inp 
uoTttuent  of  tlw  stneto  and  the  diqjWMl  at  nfuM,  i«flMiited  to  tM 
mayor  and  city  oounoil  of  Cambridge,  Man.,  by  Q.  M.  ClvJaa, 
L.  M.  Hartinga,  B.  W.  Qninn,  and  H.  P.  Bddy,  and  pablkhad  by  tha  «ty 

*  To  avoid  tbe  neoenity  of  firequent  nfcraioea,  the  (dlowing  ohkf 
■oaiOM  of  iofmnation  as  to  tha  varioui  ^rpM  of  paving  matariala  ma^^M 
indioatod:  G.  W.  TUlMm,  Stmt  PtrnnunU  and  Ptmng  MateriaU  0*w 
York,  1912) ;  W.  P.  JudK>n,  CUy  Roadt  tmd  PtmrnetOt  (4th  ed..  New  Tort, 
1909) :  F.  P.  ^wldbig,  A  TtxHtook  of  Eoadt  md  PoMtMnte  (4th  ed.,  New 
York,  1912) ;  A.  T.  Byrne.  A  Tnatiae  on  Highway  CmutnuMon  (M^  ed., 
New  Ywk,  1907) ;  1. 0.  Baker,  A  Trtati—  on  Roadt  and  PaverntnU  (2d  e^. 
New  Yo^  1913).    Mention  iboald  alio  be  made  of  Samud  Whiner/i 


STRIET8 


105 


most  durable  and,  so  far  as  initial  cost  of  construction  goes, 
the  most  expensive.  It  consists  of  oblong  blocks  of  granite  ^^**' 
set  lengthwise  on  a  bed  of  concrete.  This  bed  or  base, 
which  is  usually  about  five  or  six  inches  thick,  is  covered 
with  a  cushion  of  sand  from  one  and  one  half  to  two  inches 
deep ;  on  this  the  blocks,  which  are  about  four  inches  wide 
and  eight  inches  long,  are  laid  and  firmly  rammed  down. 
After  they  are  in  place  the  joints  between  them  are  usually 
grouted  with  a  mixture  of  cement  and  fine  sand,  or  with 
gravel  and  coal-tar  pitch,  which  completely  fills  all  the  voids 
and  remains  flush  with  the  tops  of  the  blocks.  The  cost  of 
this  pavement  depends  to  some  extent  upon  whether  or  not 
there  are  granite  cliffs  or  quarries  close  at  hand ;  but  under 
the  average  conditions  it  will  be  (including  excavations  and 
base)  not  much  less  than  three  dollars  and  a  half  per  square 
yard.  Even  under  the  strain  of  very  heavy  traffic  this  pave- 
ment should  give  forty  yean  of  service.  The  annual  cost  of 
keeping  it  in  repair  is  very  small,  only  a  few  cents  per  square 
yard.  This  type  should  not,  however,  be  confused  with 
the  old  Belgian  block  pavement  of  a  decade  or  more  ago, 
which  was  laid  without  any  concrete  base  and  rarely  proved 
satisfactory,  for  the  blocks  settled  tmevenly  and  resulted 
m  a  street  full  of  holes.^  Tho  new  pavement,  with  the 
concrete  base,  stands  up  well  under  heavy  use.  When  the 
blocks  become  worn  they  can  be  taken  up,  turned  md  for 
end  or  re-cut  if  necessary,  and  then  relaid.  Thu  type  of 
pavement  is  by  far  the  best  for  heavy  :«aming  thorough- 
fares, and  for  streets  in  the  neighborhood  of  terminals  or 
in  the  wholesale  district  of  a  city.  The  great  drawbacks 
are  its  unevenness  for  light  traffic,  its  noisiness,  and  the 
difficulty  in  keeping  it  clean.    These  shortcomings,  how 

report  on  streeto  and  ttnet  pammmatB,  ia  the  Boitim  Flnaaoe  Coinini** 
non'g  Report;  W.  198-241  (1909),  and  at  the  ympodum  on  munidiMl 
paving  in  Atmeit  nf  Uu  Amariemt  Aeaitm^  ^  PotiUeal  mtdStcM  Setmef, 
nix.  339-600  Qimy,  1907). 

>  Th«M  Uooks  -wtn  MuUy  minuunML    Th«y  mn  not  Balgiaa  aX  nil, 
but  mi^nly  tn^-toek  from  qnaniw  ak»c  tbe  Hndaon  Bivar. 


106     PRINCIPLES  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


Brick 
payemenU. 


-f4 


ever,  may  be  largely  eliminated  by  having  the  blocks  cut 
smooth  before  they  are  laid. 

Brick  pavements  have  been  used  in  European  countries, 
in  HoUand  particularly,  for  several  centuries;    but  their 
use  in  America  dates  back  only  thirty  or  forty  years.    They 
consist  of  vitrified  paving  brick  laid  on  a  concrete  base. 
The  base  is  four  to  six  inches  thick,  and  ie  covered  with  a 
cushion  of  sand ;  upon  this  the  bricks  are  laid  and  the  joints 
are  grouted.    Suitable  expansion  joints  are  sometimes  pro- 
vided if  the  pavement  is  subjected  to  extremes  of  heat  and 
cold,  as  it  is  in  all  northern  cUmates.    Under  ordinaiy 
conditions  the  initial  cost  of  this  roadway,  which  will  last 
imder  modem  traffic  a  term  of  about  t'^.  nty  years,  is  some- 
what below  three  dollars  per  square  yard.    It  can  be  repaired 
at  moderate  expense,  is  easy  to  keep  clean,  reasonably  safe, 
and  not  excessively  noisy.    It  has,  in  short,  proved  so  satis- 
factory in  ordinary  retail  buKness  districts,  where  there  is 
only  a  Umited  amount  of  heavy  teaming,  that  of  late  yean 
it  has  been  growing  rapidly  in  popularity,  particularly  in 
the   cities    of  the  Middle  West,  where  granite  quarries 
are  not  readily   accessible  and  where  good  brick-clay  is 
abundant.    There  are  now  about  one  hundred  and  seventy 
miles  of  it  in  Philadelphia  and  about  one  hundred  and 
sixty  miles  in  St.  Louis. 
Creosoted  wood  blocks  have  also  been  used  in  paving  the 
Wood-Wook  streets  of  various  European  cities  for  many  years,  but  onty 
payemento.  ^^j^^  ^j^^  j^^  dccade  have  they  been  largely  employed  in 
America.    These  blocks  are  usuaUy  of  long-leaf  or  yellow 
pine,  cut  in  rectanguhur  shape.    They  are  steriUzed  by 
steam,  thoroughly  dried,  then  soaked  in  creosote  oU  and 
dried  again.    They  are  laid  on  a  concrete  base  with  sand 
cushion,  as  in  the  case  of  brick  pavements,  and  the  joints 
are  sometimes  but  not  always  groute...    The  cost  of  a  wood- 
block pavement  is  about  the  same  as  of  one  made  of  granite 
blocks.    It  will  stand  moderate  traffic  for  a  long  period,  pei^ 
haps  thirty  years  or  more ;  its  proved  durability  has.  indeed, 


aTBIBTS 


107 


been  somewhat  of  a  surprise  to  municipal  engineers.  On 
the  whole  the  wood-block  pavement  is  particukrly  well 
adapted  for  use  in  residential  or  retaU  business  di«tricts, 
and  is  especially  suited  to  streets  in  the  vicinity  of  churches, 
schools,  and  hospitals,  where  the  avoidance  of  noise  is  much 
to  be  desired.  It  is  not,  however,  the  right  sort  of  pavement 
for  hiUy  thoroughfares  or  for  heavy  traffic,  for  teamsters 
and  motorists  find  it  very  sUppery  in  wet  weather.  Large 
quantities  of  it  have  been  laid  in  recent  years,  particu- 
larly in  the  cities  of    the  New   England   and   Middle 

The  general  type  of  pavement  known  as  asphalt  differs 
from  the  three  preceding  in  that  it  is  not  Uud  unit  by  unit,  ^^^ 
but  in  the  sheet.    A  foundation  of  broken  stone  is  pre-  u^jjUM 
pared ;  this  is  rolled  down  and  above  it  is  spread  a  mixture  "" 
of  fine  stone  or  gravel,  sand,  and  asphalt  or  bituminous 
cement ;  then  the  work  is  completed  by  a  thin  top-dressing 
of  bituminous  composition.    Sometimes,  and  preferably, 
the  foundation  is  of  concrete  instead  of  broken  stone.    The 
compositions  are  of  great  variety  and  some  are  covered  by 
patents.    This  form  of  pavement  is  therefore  frequently 
laid  by  contractors,  from  whom  the  city  usually  exacts  a 
guarantee  over  a  five-year  period.*      The  Initial  cost  is 
about  two  doUars  per  square  yard,  and  the  pavement,  if 
properly  laid  and  promptly  repaired  wh«i  necessary,  has 
an  assumed  Uf e  of  about  ei^teen  years.    Pavements  of  this 
type  are  very  popular  in  residential  districts.    Th^  can 
be  laid  with  a  true  and  even  surface;  they  are  sanitary, 
are  easily  cleaned  and  kept  clean,  have  a  good  appearance, 
and  lend  distinction  to  the  streets.    They  have  been  used 
everywhere  to  an  enormous  extent ;  Philadelphia  has  over 
five  hundred  miles  of  such  pavement  and  Chicago  over 
eight  hundred.     Too   oftea,  however,  asphalt  pavements 
have  proved  unsatisfactory  because  they  have  broken  down 


'See  Cliffnd  Riohwdwrn, 
York,  1912). 


Modem  A$pkaU  PavemetU  (2d  ed..  New 


108     PRINCIPLES  OF  BfUNICIPAL  ADMINI8TIUTI0N 


orUlfwil 


SO  rapidly  that  the  expense  of  keeping  them  in  repair  has 
frequently  been  exorbitant.  But  this  has  been  ahnost 
always  for  one  of  three  reasons;  either  the  material  was 
badly  laid  by  the  contractor  in  the  first  place,  or  the  pave- 
ment has  not  been  promptly  repaired  when  necessary,  or  it 
has  been  improperly  subjected  to  heavy  traffic.  It  should 
be  remembered  in  this  connection  that  when  all  the  streets 
are  paved  and  kept  in  good  condition  the  wear  and  tear 
is  much  less  than  when  only  a  few  streets  are  paved.  A 
great  deal  of  heavy  traffic  will  surely  go  wherever  the 
street  surface  is  good. 

The  pavement  known  as  bituUthic,  which  is  being  laid 
in  large  quantities  by  many  cities  at  the  present  time, 
differs  from  the  ordinary  asphalt  roadway  chiefly  in  that 
broken  stone  is  used  instead  of  sand.  Concrete  pavements 
have  not  as  yet  been  widely  employed  in  city  streets,  but 
they  are  coming  rapidly  into  use  on  state  highways. 

Roadways  of  crushed  stone,  commonly  known  as  macadam 
or  telford,  are  to  be  fo\md  in  all  American  cities.  They  are 
economical  to  construct,  and  that  is  the  controlling  reason  for 
their  use.  They  are  naade  by  a  process  of  spreading  fine 
crushed  stone  upon  a  foundation  of  coarse  stones.  In  order 
to  secure  "  body  "  this  top  layer  must  be  "  bound."  When  it 
is  merely  wetted  and  then  rolled,  the  pavement  is  known  as 
water-boimd  macadam ;  when  it  is  mixed  with  tar  or  oil  or 
some  allied  material,  it  is  called  tar-boimd  or  oil-bound  ma- 
cadam. Ordinary  water-bound  macadam,  moreover,  may 
receive  a  top  coating  of  crude  oil.  Great  improvements  in 
all  sorts  of  macadamizing  have  been  made  in  recent  years. 
Macadam  roadways  are  admirably  suited  for  parks  or 
pleasure  reservations.  For  lightrt»^c  streets,  when  a  city 
cannot  afford  something  better,  these  pavements  give  toler- 
able satisfaction.  They  can  be  rdied  upon,  with  annual 
repairs,  for  a  ten-year  period.  The  annual  cost  of  repair  m 
higher  than  that  of  other  pavements,  however,  and  the 
macadam  is  inferior  from  tiie  viewpoint  of  cleanliness. 


STREETS 


109 


In  considering  the  ultimate  costs  to  the  taxpayer  we  must 
remember  that  initial  cost  is  not  the  only  thhig  to  be  reck-  2jjj«» 
oned.    The  annual  expense  of  repair  and  the  cost  of  renewal  m  to 
when  the  surface  is  worn  down,  as  well  as  the  durability, 
must  be  figured.*    Only  when  this  has  been  carefully  done 
can  we  set  down  accurate^  the  yearly  cost  per  square  yard. 
This  figure  will  be  found  not  to  differ  very  greatly  in  the 
case  of  different  materials;   between  the  most  expensive 
and  the  most  economical  the  variation  is  perhaps  only  ten 
cents  per  square  yard  each  year.    Much  stress  should,  ac- 
cordingly, be  laid  on  the  suitability  of  the  pavement  to  the 
particular  street.    Ordinarily  this  can  be  determined  by  a 
survey  or  emsoB  of  the  street,  which  involves  tabulating  a 
typical  day's  traffic'    But  traffic  is  subject  to  rapid  change. 
The  closing  of  one  teaming  street  for  a  few  weeks  (while  it  is 
being  repaved  or  repaired)  will  sometimes  divert  an  enormous 
volume  of  heavy  teaming  to  a  neighboring  street  paved  with 
asphalt  or  macadam.    In  such  case  there  will  be  as  much 
wear  and  tear  in  those  few  weeks  as,  under  ordinary  light- 
traflBc  conditions,  there  would  commonly  be  in  as  many  years. 
That  is  a  contingency  which  city  authorities  do  not  always 
bear  in  mind  when  publicnservice  corporations  ask  to  have 
a  street  closed  while  tracks  or  gas  mains  are  being  relaid 
or  repaired.    Since  such  temporary  diversion  of  traffic  to 
streets  that  are  unsuited  to  bear  it  has  often  been  a  source  of 
great  expense  to  the  city,  without  any  reimbursement,  it  is 
something  that  should  always  be  taken  into  account  when 
streets  are  likely  to  be  closed  during  long  periods  of  subway 
construction. 

Our  larger  cities  have  had  years  of  experience  with  all 
varieties  of  pavouents,  particularly  with   stone  blocks,  ^___ 
asphalt,  and  macadam.    That  they  have  not  all  come  to  Mm. 

>  The  mflthoda  of  ftfoiliic  an  «qdafawd  byX  B.  Burikm  in  tlM  Mwue^ 
pd  Jowftwl  fliMi  »ii#i«Mf,  nnfl,  85-87  (Jwmaiy  18. 1912)., 

•See  W.  D.  Sohiar,  "The  TrtMo  Cnuoa  m  »  I¥*imB«ry  *<»»«»« 
Improvement,"  In  gnfinminf  and  Contraetbtt,  xxO*-  ®t*7«X"i"''"^  ^ 
1913) ;  ibo  iftiitteipal  /oMraol.  xxxlv.  84-26  (Jantttry  2, 1913). 


SspcfMBoe 

oflMtar 

AuMrieaa 


110     PRINCIPLES  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


the  same  conclusion  as  to  materUb,  however,  is  shown  by  the 
wide  differences  in  paving  policy  which  they  still  pursue. 
It  is  not  always  the  city's  roadway  engineering  experts 
who  determine  the  matter.  Where  the  owners  of  abutting 
property  pay  the  bills  for  street  paving  they  naturally  have 
a  good  deal  of  influence  in  determining  the  type  of  pav»> 
ment.  New  York  City,  for  example,  has  covered  nea^ 
half  Its  entire  paved  mileage  with  asphalt  and  less  than  one 
per  cent  with  brick.  Philadelphia,  on  the  other  hand,  has 
used  brick  to  the  extent  of  over  12  per  cent,  while  Cleveland 
has  put  brick  pavement  on  more  than  70  per  cent  of  the 
city'p  paved  streets.  Stone  blocks  and  cobble  cover  about 
18  per  cent  of  the  surface  in  New  York,  about  28  per  cent  ia 
Philadelphia,  about  50  per  cent  in  Pittsburgh,  and  23  per 
cent  in  Boston.*  Wood-block  pavement  has  not  yet  been 
veiy  extensively  laid  by  larger  American  cities,  but  during 
the  last  few  years  it  has  been  making  surprising  headway. 


Paying  for 
pavonenta. 


HOW  8TREBT  PAVINO  IB  PAID  FOB 

To  a  large  extent  American  cities  have  managed  to  maks 
adjacent  property  bear  part  of  the  cost  of  paving  streeti^ 
by  their  policy  of  levying  a  special  assessment  of  so  mudi 
per  front  foot  upon  the  abutting  property,  or  so  much  per 
thousand  dollars  of  assessed  valuation.*  This  is  true  d 
all  parts  of  the  country  except  New  England.  In  New 
York  City,  for  example,  the  entire  cost  of  the  initial  pave- 
ment is  assessed  upon  abutting  property.     But  in  Boston 

>  These  general  percentages  have  been  flgored  from  the  Report  cf  (k« 
Chi^  Engineer  of  the  Board  of  Bitimate  ari  Apportionment  (New  Torit« 
1912),  p.  18 ;  the  Report  of  the  Department  of  Publie  Worke  (3  vols.,  Phil*. 
ddpbia,  1912),  ii.  120;  the  Report  of  the  Dioieion  ef  Engineering,  Depmt- 
meta  of  Public  Service  (Cleveland.  1912),  p.  14 ;  the  Report  cf  the  Buren 
of  Conetruction  (Pittsb'iri^  1912),  p.  613;  and  the  Report  ef  the  PiMk 
Worke  Department  (Boston,  1912),  p.  68. 

*  The  amount  cl  suoh  special  assessment  h,  of  course,  not  all  eel- 
leoted  in  a  single  year.  Usually  "speci&l  assessment  bonds"  for  Ave  or 
ten-year  twms  are  issued,  and  these  are  paid  off  as  the  owners  of  pcopartjr 
pay  their  insti^ents  over  the  same  period. 


BTRIITS 


111 


and  the  othw  cities  of  New  Ehif^and  most  paving  outlaye 
have  been  met  by  the  issue  of  ordinaiy  bonds.  A  psvement 
may  reasonably  be  r^purded  as  a  peimanent  improvement, 
with  its  cost  therefore  spread  over  a  term  of  years;  but 
the  tendency  has  been  to  make  this  term  too  long.  Twenty- 
year  bonds  have  oftm  been  issued  to  pay  for  asphalt  pave- 
ments which  broke  down  long  before  the  bonds  matured. 
Nearly  every  American  dty  has  had  salutaiy  lessons  in 
paving  finance  of  this  sort.  The  result  is  that  the  state 
laws  are  in  some  cases  imposing  strict  limitations  upon 
the  maximum  term  for  which  paving  bonds  may  be  issued, 
—  a  wise  precaution,  for  the  tendency  to  nukke  future 
generations  bear  the  cost  of  present-day  extravagance 
is  something  that  needs  stem  rq)ression  in  nearly  every 
community.  Money  required  to  pay  for  new  pavement 
should,  so  far  as  it  cannot  be  had  from  annual  taxes 
or  special  assessments,  be  obtained  by  the  issue  of  serial 
bonds,  and  the  last  bonds  in  the  series  should  matiure  well 
within  the  actual  lifetime  of  the  pavement  as  estimated 
on  a  conservative  basis.*  In  the  case  of  macadam  roadways 
the  loan  period  should  not  exceed  five  years ;  for  asphalt  it 
should  not  be  longor  than  ten  years,  for  brick  or  wood  not 
more  than  fifteen,  and  for  granite-block  pavement  not  more 
than  twenty.  In  some  instances  the  general  laws  prescribe 
a  flat  maximum  of  ten  years  for  all  pavement  loons,  but  this 
policy  errs  in  going  to  an  opposite  extreme.* 


flOUB  SPECIAL  SnOBBt  FROBLEUS 

The  streets  that  have  to  accommodate  car  tracks  present  stneuar 
special  paving  problems.    Since  it  is  recognised  by  engineers  traebin 
that  tracks  are  detrimental  to  any  pavement,  it  has  become  ^^Si^ 

'On  the  advutasM  of  leriiJ  as  oompwed  with  dnkiiirAiiid  bonds. 
see  bttow,  pp.  471-474. 

'For  example,  the  iHrorisioii  in  the  MassMhosetts  Mnnidpal  Finuee 
Act  of  1913  (MaaaaekuattU  AeU  and  Brntbta,  If  3,  oh.  719,  I  6).  This 
sppbes  to  all  except  manadam  roadways. 


112     PRINCIPLM  or  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

a  common  practice  to  inaitt,  in  granting  or  renewing  fnuH 
chises,  that  the  street-railway  oompaniet  shall  themselves 
pave  and  keep  in  repair  that  part  of  the  street  which  they 
occupy  as  a  right-of-way.  Some  cities  have  gone  even 
farther.  In  Philadelphia,  under  an  arrangement  made  in 
1892,  the  street-railway  companies  were  obliged  to  pave 
and  maintain  all  thoroughfares  used  by  them.  The  com- 
panies claimed  that  this  obligation  applied  only  to  the  strips 
of  street  actually  used  by  them  as  right-of-way,  but  the 
courts  decided  that  it  meant  the  entire  street  surfaces  froip 
curb  to  curb.*  As  a  result  of  these  decisions  the  com- 
panies often  put  down  cheap,  unsuitable  paving,  till  the 
whole  arrangement  proved  so  \msatisf actory  to  both  parties 
that  it  was  ultimately  modified  to  a  provision  under  which 
the  traction  company  now  pays  half  a  million  dollars  a  year 
in  lieu  of  its  paving  obligations.'  When  no  restrictions  are 
laid  on  the  companies  as  to  the  type  of  pavement  to  be 
used,  they  are  apt  to  prefer  the  kind  that  is  cheapest,  with 
scant  regard  either  to  the  pavement  on  the  rest  of  the  street 
or  to  the  convenience  of  other  vehicle  traffic  which  murt 
at  times  use  the  space  between  the  tracks.  In  any  case, 
the  problem  of  paving  the  area  adjoining  the  tracks  in  sucb 
way  as  best  to  serve  the  general  convenience,  without  at  the 
same  time  greatly  enhancing  the  expense  of  repair,  is  one 
of  considerable  technical  difficulty.  If,  for  example,  the 
cars  are  heavy,  aq)halt  or  other  sheet  pavement  cannot 
satisfactorily  be  laid  rii^t  up  to  the  tracks,  —  it  does  not 
have  enough  resiliency.  The  jar  and  jolting  of  the  can 
break  and  crack  it ;  the  water  gets  in ;  and  very  soon  thoe 
is  a  ragged  channd  of  holes  along  each  line  of  the  track. 
In  such  cases  unit  pavement  of  some  sort,  as  blocks  of  granite 
or  brick  or  wood,  must  be  used ;  and  ev^n  with  these  map 


>  Bee.  tax  example,  Pbiladetphu  v.  Ridge  Avenoe  PMHOfw  Bw*«*y 
Co..  143  Ptnn.  SUOe  R«poiU,  444. 

*  O.  W.  Tillaon,  Street  Pattmentt  mtd  Paring  MateriaU  (N«w  ToA 
1912),  p.  491. 


lis 


u.  ^  •ome  extra  proviiioii  for  inraring  adaqiutte  reiOicnejr 
U  needed.  In  the  cam  of  granite  bbeks  *  toothinf-ctone, 
■0  called,  or  ungrouted  block,  ii  commonly  ineerted  to  give 
the  neceisaiy  flexibility ;  when  brick  paving  ii  uied,  spe- 
cially moulded  bricks  are  mually  laid  next  to  the  raib.  Some- 
times, too,  the  various  spring  devices  and  other  patented 
appliances  that  an  on  the  market  are  utilised.  In  all  such 
matters  rdating  to  paving  plans  and  specifications  it  is 
obviously  important  that  the  engineers  of  the  city  and  those 
of  the  company  should  act  together.  Of  their  failure  to  do 
80  a  great  many  unsatisf aotoiy  pavements  have  been  a 
direct  result.* 

No  single  factor  has  been  a  source  of  greater  injury  to  the 
paved  streets  of  American  cities  than  the  practice  of  allow- 
ing various  city  departments  (such  as  the  water  and  sewer 
authorities)  and  all  public-service  companies  to  exercise  a 
virtually  free  hand  in  tearing  up  pavements  in  ordor  to  do 
8ome  sub-surf*:'?  work.  Tlie  spectacle  of  a  new  pavement 
that  is  allowed  to  get  scarcdy  hardened  before  it  is  torn 
up  again  hsJi  become  so  frequent  that  we  have  well  nif^ 
ceased  to  give  it  even  passing  nodoe.  Indeed,  it  almost 
seems  as  if  there  were  some  sort  of  organised  conq>iracy  to 
prevent  any  newly  paved  street  from  remaining  intact  for 
more  than  a  few  months  at  a  time.  Obviously,  much  of  the 
trouble  arises  from  a  failure  of  the  city  departments  and  the 
various  public-service  companies  to  work  together.  Rarely 
do  they  take  joint  coimsel  for  the  morrow  in  such  things.  A 
superintendent  of  streets  goes  ahead  with  his  paving  plans 
while  the  water  authorities  or  the  directors  of  a  gas  company 
are  deciding  that  their  mains  will  shortly  have  to  be  re- 
newed. Each  knows  nothing,  very  frequently,  of  what  the 
other  has  in  mind.  Happily,  conditions  have  been  improving 
in  recent  years,  till  there  is  now  more  team  play  in  such 
matters  than  ^ere  used  to  be.  Nevertheless,  there  is  still 
abundant  room  for  greater  cooperation.  Even  at  the  best, 
>  G.  W.  TOlMm,  Stntl  Pmmmitt  amd  Partn§  Mtkritb,  oh.  ihr. 
I 


EltMltOI 

Mutual 


mvatiou. 


Pwmitffor 

makiiig 

•treet 


114     PRINCIPLM  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINMnUTIOM 

pavemento  wiU  have  to  be  torn  up  more  or  leie,  for  no  om 
can  hope  to  fore«»  aU  eventuaUtiee.  Houie  connectWBj 
with  itreet  main*  wiU  get  out  of  order,  pipee  and  maim  iriD 
break  or  f ree«j  or  five  out  unexpectedly,  and  before  repaiii 
can  be  made  the  pavement  or  the  aidewalk  murt  come  up  to 
■pots.  One  often  wWiei  that  in  planning  and  com*™**^!! 
their  aewere  the  larger  American  citie.  could  have  folkmjd 
the  example  of  Parii.  Baron  Hauawnann  took  care  to  mato 
his  aewert  large  enough  to  carry  nearly  "^  *»»•  «** 
iurf ace  utiUtiee,  -  water  pipea,  wire  conduiU,  Mid  io  forth, 
—  an  arrangement  that  eolvea  the  whole  problem,  for  it 
means  that  repairs  are  made  from  below  the  pavement, 

not  from  above  it.  .  ,        .    ^  ^      ti j. 

Most  people  have  very  Uttle  idea  of  the  extent  to  which 
the  atreets  cf  a  Urge  city  are  dug  up  here  and  thwe  evejr 
year.    In  Boston,  with  a  total  street  length  of  approximateftr 
five  hundred  milee,  there  are  about  fifteen  thousand  opening! 
per  year,  aggregating  in  combined  length  abc  t  one  hundred 
and  fifty  mUes,  or  nearly  one  third  of  the  whole  street  mil^ 
age,  although  each  excavation  occupies  only  a  part  of  the 
width  of  the  street.    The  ratio  in  other  cities  would  probaWy 
not  be  very  different.    But  even  with  this  general  ripping  up 
the  situation  would  not  be  intolerable  if  pavements  were  pot 
back  in  their  original  condition.    That,  however,  is  no*  «*« 
done.    When  pipes  and  mains  are  repaired,  espedally  ia 
winter,  the  concrete  base  or  the  frozen  earth  that  has  been 
excavated  is  hurriedly  thrown  back  and  carelessly  tamped 
down,  and  then  the  paving  surface  is  replaced  in  a  smulay 
hurried  fashion.    By  and  by  the  sub^rurface  sinks,  and  ttj 
pavement  above  drops  below  the  surrounding  street  level 
or  breaks  through  under  heavy  traflBc. 

Tc  prevent  this  trouble  nearly  aU  cities  have  provided  that 
no  street  opening  shall  be  made  by  a  pubUc-eervice  compaay 
or  by  a  private  individual  until  a  permit  has  been  obtained 
from  the  proper  city  department.  In  most  cities  a  small  fee 
is  exacted  for  this  permit,  and  a»  a  rule  a  cash  deposit  is  abe 


■TRUTS 


lift 


nquired  to  tmnn  proper  restoring  of  the  ptvement.*  PubUo* 
lervice  eompMiiee  HuA  have  oecudon  to  ask  for  frequent 
permits  are  usually  allowed  to  give  a  general  bond  covering 
all  the  permits  of  the  year  in  lieu  <rf  a  cash  deposit  for  each 
one.  Strict  regulations  as  to  methods  of  excavating,  as  to 
the  guarding  of  openings  by  day  and  night  while  the  work 
is  in  progress,  and  as  to  the  refilling  of  the  cavity  and  the 
restoration  of  the  pavement  or  sidewalk  are  in  force  in  most 
cities.'  These  are  usually  printed  on  the  back  of  the  permit. 
The  deporit  is  held  until  the  whole  work  has  been  finished  to 
the  satisfaction  of  a  street  inspector,  who  certifies  the  fact  in 
writing.  This  system  of  deposits,  permits,  and  inspection 
has  done  good  service  in  protecting  the  streets,  but  the  in- 
spection is  oftMi  so  superficial  that  most  of  our  cities  still 
lose  heavily  Mch  year.  The  Boston  Finance  Commission 
estimated  in  1910  that  the  city's  k)ss,  through  the  failure  of 
public-service  companies  to  put  the  streets  into  their  orig- 
inal condition  aft«r  openings,  amounted  to  about  1200,000 
per  year.  In  some  munidpalitiee  the  arrangement  requires 
that  all  replacements  must  be  made  by  the  city's  own  street 
department  employees  and  the  cost  charged  to  the  com- 
paoies;  but  it  is  doubtful  whether  this  plan  serves  much 
better.  To  put  street  pp  cements  or  sidewalks  back  as  they 
were,  eq)ecially  in  winuir  months,  is  nmt  to  impossible. 
The  best  policy  is  to  have  such  cooperation  that  the  number 
of  inevitable  opmings  may  be  reduced. 

The  adequate  protection  of  the  streets  involves  also  an 
efficient  regulation  of  traffic.  Inasmuch  as  street  surfaces 
give  way  if  subjected  to  improper  use,  the  service  which  the 
streets  are  supposed  to  render  will  be  gmtly  impaired  if 

>  In  Boston  in  1912  tlw  inoMM  boa  Urn  for  meli  pcrmiu  unounted 
to  over  rix  thooMod  doUara.    See  iUport  oj  <*•  PMie  Worka  DepartmtiU, 

1912,  p.  462.  .        ,, 

'  A  o(HMiM  RunnHry  ol  tlw  ratoa  tlwt  «drt  fat  about  llf^  AnMrioMi  dtiw 

tegardinc  eatMvatiow  for  honaa  ooanmlioaa  with  aewara,  water  mahu, 

and  gaa  mijw  may  be  foniid  in  the  Jftmieipel  Journal,  xxxvi  3Mr-306 

(March  19, 1914). 


Tharainl*- 
tionol 


traSo. 


116     PRINCIPLES  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


The  aiMof 
vehieies. 


every  vehicle  is  permitted  to  be  a  law  unto  itself.  The 
regulation  of  traffic,  accordingly,  takes  three  principal  forms. 
First,  there  is  the  making  and  enforcing  of  rules  that  aim  to 
keep  heavy  vehicles  upon  the  streets  provided  for  them  and 
to  exclude  such  teaming  from  boulevards,  parkways,  es- 
planades, and  some  residential  streets.  Regulations  of  this 
nature  are  very  common  abroad,  and  are  becoming  so  in  the 
larger  cities  of  this  country.  Progress  in  this  direction  murt 
move  slowly,  however;  for  there  is  a  popular  prejucUce 
against  giving  special  privileges  to  the  streets  of  any  section 
in  the  community,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  only  thing 
involved  in  these  restrictions  is  the  reasonable  protection  of 
the  taxpayer's  property  against  abuse. 

In  the  second  pl&ce,  the  regulation  of  street  traffic  necessi- 
tates the  making  of  fixed  rules  regarding  the  maximum  size  <rf 
vehicles,  the  maximum  speed  at  which  they  may  move 
through  the  streets,  the  use  of  the  streets  by  standing 
vehicles,  and  the  rules  of  the  road  in  general.  These  regu- 
lations have,  in  all  large  cities,  become  elaborate  and  com- 
plicated,—in  published  form  they  make  a  considerable 
pamphlet ;  but,  if  we  are  to  secure  the  steady  and  safe  flow 
of  traffic,  particularly  along  crowded  thoroughfares  and  at 
congested  comers,  every  one  of  them  embodies  a  reasonable 
requirement.  Indeed,  the  general  use  of  automobiles  ami 
motor  trucks  in  recent  years,  by  greatly  increasing  the 
rapidity  with  which  the  current  of  urban  traffic  flows  along 
the  streets,  has  made  stringent  rules  the  more  necessary. 
Finally,  there  is  the  work  of  handling  the  actual  traffic  so 
PnnutioM  that  congestion  will  not  result.  This  is  the  task,  not  of  the 
jSStioii.  street  department,  but  of  the  poUce ;  in  the  larger  cities  it  is 
intrusted  to  a  special  corps  of  officers  known  as  the  traffic 
squad.  Congestion  occurs  more  particularly  at  oertaia 
places,  such  as  street  intersections,  where  the  flow  of  traffic 
moving  in  one  direction  crosses  that  moving  in  a&o^^. 
It  is  most  acute,  moreover,  at  certain  periods  of  tlM  dafi 
notably  between  the  hours  of  four  and  six  in  the  aftcnooa. 


STREETS 


117 


Varying  degrees  of  congestion,  again,  may  be  noticed  at 
different  seasons  of  the  year.  It  is  only  by  wiRking  frequent 
traffic  t  irvoyH,  therefore,  that  the  city  can  so  assign  the  work 
of  ra^c  officers  '.r  to  give  it  the  greatest  efficiency.^ 

Within  the  las',  few  years  great  improvement  have  been 
mtidoiD  the  mechanical  aids  for  rendering  traffic  safer  at 
these  congebted  street  intersections.  One  method  is  the 
marking  of  a  "  safety  cone "  on  the  street  surface  where 
passengers  get  on  or  off  the  street  cars.  Vehicle  traffic  is 
not  allowed  to  enter  this  zone.  Such  a  safety-zone  arrange- 
ment has  been  carried  into  operation  on  a  large  scale  in 
Detroit,  and  its  use  will  no  doubt  spread  quickly  to  other 
cities.  Likewise  there  are  the  numerous  semaphore  devices 
which  have  been  coming  into  use  as  aids  to  the  traffic 
officer.  A  good  scheme  of  traffic  handling,  however,  must 
be  flexible.  Street  currents  are  very  fickle ;  minor  obstacles 
often  divert  the  flow  from  old  channels,  while  improvements 
on  one  thoroughfare  may  take  almost  the  whole  stream  away 
from  its  neighbor.  In  planning  highway  improvements,  ac- 
cordingly, it  is  necessary  to  take  into  accoimt  not  only  the 
existing  amount  and  trend  of  traffic,  but  the  diversions 
which  are  likely  to  occur  as  a  result  of  the  improvement. 


SIDEWALK  PLANNING  AND  CX>N8TBUCITION 

What  has  been  said  in  the  foregoing  pages  of  this  chaptor 
refers  to  the  roadway  used  by  vdiicijB.    There  remains  the  SidMrdb: 
question  of  providing  for  foot  traffic  by  the  planning,  con-  ^ 
struction,  and  maintenance  of  adequate  sidewalks.    The 

>  The  clanks  iiiTMticatkm  of  tUa  nibjwt  h  tt»(  voetiinad  in  tba 
Report  df  the  Boyal  Commi$»un  m  Ltnim  Tr^gU  ^  vob.,  Lmidim,  1906- 
1906).  A  Ttmuat  6t  tUs  rnort  nay  be  found  in  Bntuutruig  fTtw,  Izr. 
43»-440  (April  13.  1011).  Tlw  moi*  noant  teaffio  nirv^jr  undertaken  in 
uy  bus*  Aaeriean  eity  ii  (hat  omujhwtad  by  tha  Boaton  Chambar  of 
Commerae,  tin  natdts  of  tMek  aie  embediad  in  ii»  taport,  t^rmt  Trt^ 
in (A< City (tfBoatoM (Boaton.  1M4).  Maotkm may alao ba mnda olJ. W. 
Howud'i  artieia  on  "A  PM^oaad  Staadaid  Raaofd  of  Stnat  ItaOa," 
m  EngimeHng  Ntm,  bdx.  4-6  (JMUtaiy  2.  IBIS). 


118     PRINCIPLES  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


SidewMln: 

materiala 

and 

method!  ol 

constrac- 

tion. 


proper  division  of  width  between  roadway  and  sidewalk  is 
something  that  cannot  be  wisely  fixed  by  general  rule,  al- 
though some  large  cities  have  so  attempted  to  regulate  it.  In 
New  York  City,  as  has  been  said,  the  rules  provide  that 
in  streets  having  a  width  ranging  from  fifty  to  sixty  feet  and 
not  occupied  by  a  double-track  r^v  Jroad  the  roadway  from 
curb  to  curb  shall  have  a  width  of  thirty  feet.  Fifth  Avenue, 
however,  has  for  the  most  part  a  forty-foot  roadway  and  its 
two  sidewalks  are  each  thirty  feet  wide,  a  distribution  <A 
street  space  which,  thou^  very  unusual,  is  not  inappropriate 
for  what  is  probably  the  world's  most  important  retail  busi- 
ness thoroughfare.^  In  St.  Louis  the  provision  is  that  a  sixty- 
foot  street  shall  devote  thirty-six  feet  to  roadway.  A  very 
little  rellection  ought  to  show,  nevertheless,  that  these  propo> 
tionings  should  never  be  applied  arbitrarily,  but  should  be 
varied  according  to  neighborhood  conditions.  Streets  in  the 
wholesale  district  may  require  maximum  teaming  space  and 
be  well  served  with  a  minimum  sidewalk  area.  A  wide 
sidewalk  is  here  an  actual  nuisance,  in  fact,  because  so  much 
heavy  merchandise  has  to  be  carried  across  it  to  be  loaded 
on  trucks  and  drays.  In  residential  sections,  on  the  oUbat 
hand,  the  volume  of  roadway  traffic  may  be  so  small  as  to 
allow,  without  inconvenience,  a  very  generous  strip  for  grass 
plots  and  sidewalks.  Where  the  general  appearance  of  Hub 
street  is  an  important  factor  —  as  it  should  be  in  almost  aU 
cases  —  the  allowance  between  the  curb  and  the  building  line 
should  be  as  Uberal  as  the  conditions  permit. 

The  curbing  which  divides  the  roadway  from  the  side- 
walk and  serves  as  a  protection  for  the  latter  is  always  of 
stone  or  concrete.  For  the  sidewalk  itself  there  is  a  greattt 
choice  of  materials.'  Wood,  gravel,  fli^^ne,  tar  maear 
dam,  brick,  and  concrete  are  all  in  use ;  but  for  permanent 

'From  aothto  88A  Stmt  th» nadmy  !•  now  56  fMt  uid  tlMrii»> 
mliu  an  «Mh  22|  fact  wid*.    The  oluHice  mn  made  a  few  tmii  tfo. 

*  For  a  deuiled  wnuidttatioii,  Me  O.  W.  TfUicm't  SUmt  Ptmmmm  mi 
Paring  MaittntAt  (New  Tcric,  1012).  eh.  xr. 


-"•mni 


mtmmmm 


8TBEKTS 


110 


walks  in  larger  mtinicipalities  flagstone,  brick,  and  grano- 
lithic are  now  the  chief  materials  employed.  Brick 
sidewalks,  so  popular  in  some  American  cities,  notably 
in  Boston  and  Philadelphia,  are  now  going  out  of  use  to 
some  extent ;  but  they  have  some  distinct  merits.  They 
\re  not  so  slippery  as  sidewalks  made  of  artificial  stone, 
they  are  cheaper  in  construction  and  more  easily  repaired, 
and  ice  melts  from  them  more  quickly ;  on  the  other  hand, 
they  are  not  so  sightly  or  so  durable.  All  things  con- 
sidered, the  concrete  or  granolithic  sidewalk,  when  properly 
laid,  is  more  than  worth  the  difference  in  cost.  When 
it  has  not  proved  so,  the  reason  has  been  almost  always 
traceable  to  inferior  materials  and  poor  workmanship 
under  the  contract  system.* 

In  most  of  the  la^er  ^.  iierican  cities  the  entire  cost  of 
building  the  sidewalk,  whatever  its  width  and  material, 
must  be  borne  by  the  owner  of  the  adjoining  property.  In 
such  cases  owners  are,  for  the  most  part,  allowed  to  have  a 
choice  as  to  the  material  iised.  A  few  cities,  among  which 
Boston  is  the  most  conspicuous  example,  have  made  pro- 
vision whereby  the  municipal  treasury  and  the  abutting 
owner  share  the  cost.  In  the  case  of  brick  walks  the  shares 
are  about  equal;  if  granolithic  is  used  the  owner  pays 
the  larger  part,  —  an  arrangement  which  has  operated  in 
practice  as  a  premium  on  brick-sidewalk  construction. 
The  custom  of  putting  upon  abutting  owners  the  entire 
cost  of  what  is  really  a  public  improvement,  and  of  leaving 
to  them  the  whole  initiative  in  providing  what  is  a  public 
necessity,  has  no  doubt  lightened  the  burden  upon  the 
public  treasury,  but  it  has  not  contributed  to  the  beauti- 
fic'Uon  of  American  dty  streets.  The  curious  mosaics 
of  brick,  stone,  and  gravd  tiiat  are  strung  along  some  of 
the  finest  thorou|^ares  detract  conaderably  from  the 
general  appearance  of  the  streets,  and  are  among  the  first 

■  Samud  WhiMry,  "adflwaUu  in  Borton."  in  BofUm  flnuoe  Commi*. 
»<Hi's  RepoHt,  iv.  2«2-2M  (1909). 


Aaaeoing 
the  coat  (rf 
•idewaUci. 


120     PRIMCIPLB8  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

tiiingB  that  imprew  the  European  viator  to  America  with 
a  sense  of  haphazardness.  The  adoption  of  a  planned 
sidewalk  system,  properly  adjusted  to  the  needs  of  dif- 
ferent streets,  with  reasonable  requirements  as  to  uniformity 
of  materials  and  with  prop»  standards  of  construction, 
would  achieve  better  and  more  artistic  results  without 
greater  cost  to  the  people  of  the  community. 

BVUMAKI 

From  among  the  various  topics  briefly  dealt  with  in  the 
Conduiion.  foregoing  pages  of  this  chapter  two  or  three  stand  out  as 
deserving  a  final  word  of  emphasis.  In  the  first  place,  let 
it  be  reiterated  that  the  highways  of  the  cities  are  the  very 
arteries  of  the  common  life,  the  indispensable  avoiues  of  til 
commercial  and  social  intercourse.  They  are  the  places 
whore  thoiisands  of  men  spend  most  of  their  working  hours. 
They  are  our  chi^  sources  of  sunlight  and  air.  Th^  fur- 
nish the  only  out-of-doors  that  most  of  the  children  have; 
ihey  are  the  great  common  playground  of  the  masses. 
Th^  should  therefore  be  planned  and  maintained  for  the 
people  who  must  live  along  them,  as  well  as  for  those  who 
metdy  travel  by  upon  the  surface.  In  the  great  edifice 
which  we  call  the  modem  city  they  are  the  halls  and  corri- 
dors. To  make  and  keep  them  convenioit,  clean,  and  un- 
congested  is  one  of  the  most  useful  tasks  to  which  any  man 
can  put  his  hand.  There  is  no  better  superficial  gauge  of  » 
city's  dviliiation  than  the  goieral  condition  of  its  hig^wayi 
and  bjrways. 

In  the  second  place,  the  street  must  be  dealt  with  as  a 
whole.  The  subways,  conduits,  and  sewers  bdow  it,  the 
pavement  and  toaeks  on  its  surface,  as  well  as  the  tree^ 
poles,  lamps,  and  wires  overhead,  are  all  things  that  must 
be  planned  out  and  studied  together,  not  sqMyratdy.  Too 
often  the  street  is  regarded  as  nothing  more  thf  n  a  etaiap  ct 
pavement  flanked  by  sidewalks.    It  ia  far  more  than  that. 


8TRBST8 


121 


Finally,  it  cannot  be  too  often  emphasised  that  every 
street  has  its  own  conditions,  needs,  and  problems,  —  its 
own  personality,  in  fact.  Streets  vary  in  character  quite 
as  much  as  men.  The  oviy  sensible  hij^way  policy  is  that 
which  deals  with  them  aoeordinc^y. 


Introdue- 
toty. 


CHAPTER  IV 

WATBR  SUPPLY 

The  neceasity  of  providing  a  suflScient  and  suitable  pub- 
lic v^ater  supply  is  now  fully  recognized  in  every  civilized 
community.  Next  to  the  protection  of  life  comes  the  saf»- 
guarding  of  the  public  health,  and  in  connection  with  this 
latter  function  the  city's  water  supply  is  a  factor  of  supreme 
importance.  It  is  desirable  that  the  citizens  shall  have 
plenty  of  water  delivered  conveniently  for  their  iise ;  it  is 
equally  desirable  that  this  supply  shall  be  pure  and  whole- 
some. It  is  quite  true,  of  course,  that  no  such  thing  as 
absolute  purity  is  either  obtained  or  demanded;  but  a 
reasonable  approach  to  it  is  something  that  must  be  sou^t 
by  every  well-governed  commimity.  More  than  one  dly 
department,  notably  the  fire-protection  service  and  the 
department  of  public  health,  must,  in  the  nature  of  things, 
be  able  to  put  full  reliance  upon  the  adequacy  and  the 
purity  of  the  water  supply.  It  has  sometimes  been  said,  in 
fact,  that  one  may  judge  the  efficiency  of  a  city's  govern- 
ment by  testing  its  water  supply.  Water  is,  at  any  rate,  a 
commodity  tha  ^oes  into  each  man's  home  every  hour  of 
the  day  and  eve.  day  of  the  year.  If  its  quality  is  defi- 
cient, the  citizens  are  sure  to  pay  a  penalty  in  one  way  or 
another.* 

>  The  pottlty  whioh  »  oommunity  Mta«l]y  pagm  in  terms  of  dolbn 
Mid  eaits  has  been  woriced  out  by  my  e<^Ieagtte,  Ttoteuoi  O.  C  WMpi^ 
in  his  Uttle  volume  on  The  Valua  of  Pun  Water  (New  York.  1907). 

123 


WATIB  SUPPLT 


123 


HI8TORT  OP  PDBUC  WATEB  SUPPLY 

JVom  veiy  ewly  times  the  l««er  cities  have  attempted 

of  the  latter  stiU  exit  in  the  vidnity  oTThe^^i,""'  ^" 
were  probably  m  use  during  the  construction  oftheT ;^t  ""* 
monuments.  Several  centuries  before  the  begin^Tof^e 
t?e"SrGl^  -re  channels  which  bnnjnSefinl 
the  cities  of  Greece,  as  Herodotus  tells  us;  and  the  water- 
supply^stem  of  Rome,  when  completed  a^utmlT 
comprised  fourteen  great  aqueducts  from  seven  to  ^^ 
miles  long  and  sometimes  eij^t  feet  in  diam^7  S 
g^to  length  being  three  hundred  and  ^T^  ^Z 
Cormected  with  them  were  other  works  on  a  prodigiot 
s^ale,  mcludmg  great  reservoim  for  storage,  from  wW^ 

afJblTh""  r™"^  tk«>ugh  lead  pipes  toS'e  publicToT 
tarns,  baths,  md  pnvato  dwellings.  It  has  been  estimated 
hat  the  amount  supplied  was  about  fifty  gaUons^a^ 
laoZ'^'r^^  T*^*  "^^  *^*  ^*"  °f  the  Roman  emX 
lathemlt^^°*^'f  ^"'^  approached  Rome's  achiev^^ 
m  the  matter  of  water  supply.  The  Romans,  however  con- 
tracted watoTHmpply  systems  on  a  smaUer  scallliTy 
of  their  provincial  cities,  as  at  Lyons  in  France  M^^ 
Alsace,  and  Seville  in  Spain.  P  Jt  of  Zl^^'^Z^ 
ongnaUy  built  about  130  a.d.,  is  still  in  use.*       '^''^'''^' 

mo^7h^T,/i'  ^^^'  ^  '^'"^  ^  ^'>  «^dence  that 

mit  ^tJ^T     """"^ir^^'     I^»8  befo«  that  time  '''^ 

i^Jj^     Sr^"^  '^^f'''^  ''^  «**^«'  ^^oMy  or  partly 
destroyed.    ^laUow  wells  and  neighboring  rive«  now  fu^ 

of  the  City  0/  Bon^  ^^^  jSHJ^^I^ni^  Ti^  ^^  ^"P'^«' 
<*%  pp.  67-64.  **«*««o«M  ^  ANdM  &MM  (BoMon.  18W),  «Bpe. 


Tiiebeffiii- 

modem 

Wkter 

aywteaiM. 


124     PRINCIPLBS  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

nished  the  supply,  the  dtisens  canying  from  these  to  thdr 
homes  such  quantities  as  they  needed.  Since  the  water 
wag  often  polluted,  epidemics  were  a  frequent  result.  Not 
that  the  great  pestilences  which  swep  the  towns  every  few 
years  were  due  to  this  cause ;  but  the  water  supply  must 
at  least  have  been  an  important  agmcy  in  the  spread  <rf 
contagion.  London  drew  its  chief  supply  from  the  Thames, 
and  Paris  its  supply  from  the  Seine.  Water  was  eveiy- 
whero  deemed  fit  for  use  if  it  looked  clear.  At  length,  in 
the  early  years  of  the  sevoxteenth  century  Paris  undertook 
to  provide  a  purer  source  of  supply  by  restoring  to  use  an 
old  aqueduct  which  had  been  constructed  in  Roman  times; 
and  about  the  same  time  London  began  to  bring  a  part  of 
its  water  from  New  River  in  Hertfordshire,  a  distance  of 
forty  miles.*  Otlier  cities,  however,  were  slow  to  follow 
their  example,  till  the  application  of  steam  to  water-pumping 
in  the  eighteenth  century  simplified  the  problem  somewhat 
and  led  to  greater  progress. 

It  was  not  until  the  nineteenth  centiuy  that  the  rapid 
growth  of  cities  in  area  and  population  caused  them  to  take 
up  their  water  problems  in  real  earnest.  Mechanical  im- 
provements now  made  the  question  of  distribution  much 
easier;  wooden  mains  were  replaced  by  cast-iron  conduits; 
and  advances  in  sanitary  knowledge  increased  the  public 
demand  for  a  better  supply  of  water  everywhere.  The  new 
systems  of  Lod  on,  Paris,  Berlin,  and  Glasgow  all  date 
from  about  I80O.  In  the  United  States  the  larger  mu- 
nicipalities had  public  waterworks  before  1800,  the  puUie 
water  supply  of  Boston  banning  as  early  as  1662;  but 
these  early  systems  were  everywhere  inadequate  and  un- 
dependable.  The  completion  of  the  Croton  aqueduct, 
forty-one  miles  in  length,  marked  a  new  era  in  municipal 
water  development,  for  this  great  mgineering  work  gave 
New  York  City  a  supply  of  nearly  one  hundred  million 

'  W.  J  Fisher, ''Ixmdon  Water  Supply,  Old  ud  New,"  in  WutrntmUr 
Renev,  olau.  31-38  (January,  19a5). 


WATER  SUPPLY 


125 


gaUons  daUy  for  a  population  of  about  thne  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand.    Other  American  cities  soon  bestined  them- 
selves to  action,  and  before  1860  every  lar^e  city  in  this 
country  had  provided  itself  with  a  public  water  system  of 
some  sort.    In  1860  there  were,  throughout  the  United 
States,  only  eighty-three  public  waterworks;  in  1880  the 
number  had  increased  to  about  six  hundred,  and  in  1910  it 
had  reached  nearly  five  thousand.    It  is  nowadays  rare  to 
f^nd  any  town  of  more  than  two  thousand  population  with- 
out some  form  of  pubUc  supply.    These  suppUes,  however, 
are  far  from  being  always  adequate  or  pure.    The  problems 
of  to-day  are  accordingly  those  of  securing  larger  and  better 
sources,  of  purifying  water,  and  of  increasing  the  efficiency 
of  waterworks  management.' 


ORGANIZATION  OF  THB  WATBB  DKPARniBNT 

During  the  early  stages  of  watoMupply  development  in 
America  the  task  of  providing  the  service  was  intrusted 
to  private  companies,  usually  under  arrangements  that 
amounted  to  a  very  favorable  franchise;  and,  although 
the  number  of  water  plants  rapidly  increased  during  the 
next  three  or  four  decades,  the  qrstem  of  private  ownenhip 
contmued  in  the  great  majority  of  cases.  In  the  years  pre- 
ceding the  Civil  war,  however,  municipal  ownership  of  the 
water  supply  made  considerable  headway.  As  this  meant 
a  new  burden  upon  the  somewhat  clumsy  administrative 
mechanism  of  the  city,  it  was  in  most  cases  handled  for  the 
time  bemg  by  the  dty  council,  details  being  managed,  and 
as  a  rule  badly  managed,  by  a  counefl  committee.    On  this 

are  AUen  HMwi'i  Chan  WaUr  and  ff «»  to  0«« « (ad  ed.,  N«w  York.  191«^ 

ntel.ter'*Z2^i?W*'  ^'^^  No.  316.  wSongtoa.  SSJ 
The  b«rt  teohakiia  twfttto  ft»  mort  iHnpo*.  ii  F.  B.  Tnr^^ 
Ra88eU'iP«M«iratorA.j),to,(NmriKfk,19U).     ™"~»"»«'«*^ 


126     PRINCIPLES  or  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTiUTION 


committee  members  of  the  council,  who  were  alwajrs  choeen 
by  wards,  sought  to  get  pUees  in  order  to  secure  q>edftl 
favors  for  their  own  neighborhoods.  Moreover,  contracts 
for  laying  the  mains  wore  frequently  awarded  at  high  prices 
to  the  friends  of  councilmen  and  large  additions  theMby 
made  to  the  city's  indebtedness.  Consequently  the  next 
step  was  to  take  the  care  of  the  water  supply  out  of  the 
council's  hand  and  put  it  under  the  control  of  a  separate 
board,  the  members  of  which  were  sometimes  chosen  by 
popular  vote  and  sometimrs  appointed  by  the  mayor.  Thk 
action  involved  a  recognition  of  the  fact  that  the  contid 
of  a  city's  water  supply  is  a  special  administrative  task,  to 
be  intrusted  only  to  men  selected  for  the  purpose.  But  the 
change  did  not  in  most  cases  take  the  water  depwtment  out 
of  politics  or  insure  its  efficient  management.  These  result^ 
when  they  are  achieved,  seem  to  be  the  outcome  of  various 
fundamental  administrative  changes,  most  of  which  have 
been  made  by  American  cities  during  the  last  three  decades. 
In  many  cities  the  water  department  is  still  in  chaq^e  of 
a  board,  usually  made  up  of  three  or  five  members.  Qnfy 
ment:  pros-  in  smaller  communities  are  these  now  elected  by  popular 
»t^r^  vo*®J  ^  *^«  larger  ones,  as  a  rule,  they  are  appointed. 
There  are  so  many  objections  to  the  board  system  as  ap- 
plied to  the  management  of  this  department  that  the 
general  tendency  is  to  get  away  from  it.  In  the  smalla 
cities,  however,  where  the  cost  of  employing  a  single  com- 
missioner would  impose  an  excessive  burden,  the  unpaid 
board  has  a  very  practical  argument  in  its  favor.  In  the 
larger  cities,  on  the  other  hand,  there  is  nearly  everything 
to  be  said  for  the  single-commissioner  plan,  sinM  not  on^ 
is  the  work  in  the  hi^est  degree  technical,  but  in  a  depart- 
ment which  so  intimately  concerns  the  health  of  the  peoi^e 
there  is  surely  no  place  for  bi-partisanship  or  for  the  inter- 
play of  local  politics.  Sometimes  a  water  commissions 
gives  his  full  time  to  this  work  alone,  but  more  often  be 
combines  it  with  other  fimctions.    In  New  York  City,  fa 


The  water 
depart- 


WATIR  gUPPLT 


137 


example,  the  dflfMrtmenU  of  wster,  gu,  arid  daetrieHy  tm 
merged  under  »  eommiMioner  appointed  l^  the  mayor;  in 
Borton  the  management  of  the  wateiHliatribution  serviee  is 
group-!  with  the  care  of  itreeto,  wwen,  and  bridges  under 
the  oommiflsioner  of  public  worla.  But,  however  related 
to  other  branches  of  city  administration,  the  wate^supply 
service  always  forms  a  separate  division  or  bureau,  with  a 
■pecial  superintendent  or  deputy  commissioner  in  charge. 
Its  importance  demands  that  it  shall  have  at  least  this 
recognition. 

Whether  it  be  ranked  as  a  separate  department  or  dealt 
with  as  a  division  of  some  huger  field  like  public  works  or  ii»*««» 
public  utiUties,  the  proper  internal  organisation  of  a  water  uS!ST 
department  presents  some  administrative  problems.    Several  '»*««•► 
functions  of  a  widely  differing  character  come  within  its 
jurisdiction.    The  work  of  a  water  department  is,  of  coune, 
largely  of  an  engineering  character,  dealing  with  plans,  con- 
struction, maintenance,  and  rq>airs;  but  it  also  embraces 
such  matters  as  water  analysis  and  water  purification, 
things  which  call  for  the  services  of  sanitary  experts;  and 
It  must  take  care  of  the  financial  end  of  the  businees,  which 
includes  the  whole  matter  of  fixing  rates,  keeping  accounts, 
and  coUecting  bills.    A  well-organised  water  dep^^tment 
must  make  provision  for  the  proper  handling  of  all  these 
things.    This  does  not  mean,  however,  that  aU  of  them 
must  be  done  by  the  department's  own  officials;  to  follow 
that  pob'cy,  eepeciaUy  in  smaUer  cities,  would  involve  over^ 
lapping  and  waste.    It  means,  rather,  that  the  plans  and 
specifications  needed  by  the  water  department  may  weU  be 
provided  by  the  dty  engineer's  office,  except  in  ease  of  the 
largest  cities,  where  there  is  work  enough  to  employ  a 
separate  force  for  the  water  department  alone.    The  col- 
lection of  water  bills,  again,  may  be  t'lmed  over  to  the 
office  of  the  city  treasurer,  unless  the  work  is  burdensome 
enough  to  demand  the  establishment  of  a  special  collection 
or  income  bureau  within  the  watw  dqMurtmmt  itself.    In 


•'-'^-- 


128     raiNCIPLU  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


mt 


the  unaller  cities,  aeeordingiy,  the  •dminiftrative  proUea 
i*  that  of  coOpersting  property  with  the  other  dty  depftri* 
menta ;  in  the  larger  centres  it  if  one  of  internal  diviai<m  and 
adjustment  of  functions. 

So  far  as  its  personnd  is  concerned,  the  water  depart- 
ment is  particulariy  wdl  suited  for  administration  on  a 
civil-service  basis.  Its  problems,  as  has  been  said,  are 
largely  technical.  With  the  exception  of  the  laborers  em- 
plfO^ed  in  the  work  of  construction,  extension,  or  repair, 
the  onployees  of  a  water  department  are  intrusted  with 
functions  which  require  both  skill  and  integrity.  Miscal- 
culations in  wateiHnipply  engineering,  errors  in  water 
Kulym,  and  mistakes  in  water  accounting  are  all  e»sy  to 
make,  and  they  are  almost  sure  to  occur  with  costly  repe- 
tition unless  the  city  takes  reasonable  precautions  to  keep 
political  patronage  out  of  the  department.  In  a  day  when 
we  all  insist  that  even  the  village  apothecaiy  shall  be 
rigidly  exarruned  lest  his  inexpertness  may  result  disas- 
trously to  the  life  or  health  of  some  individual,  it  seems  an 
utter  absurdity  that  we  should  ever  tolerate  the  influence 
of  the  political  spoilsman  upon  such  far-reaching  matters 
as  the  adequacy  and  safety  of  water  supply,  the  engineering 
problems  of  reservoirs,  pumps,  mains,  and  pressure,  and  the 
highly  technical  questions  of  water  analjrsis  and  watw  puri- 
fication. Practically  every  regular  position  in  the  city's 
water  department  carries  duties  of  a  definable  nature,  uid 
whether  or  not  an  aspirant  poasewes  these  qualifications  can 
be  determined  with  reasonable  certainty  by  means  of  a 
broad  examination.  Even  the  post  of  superintendoit 
should  be  filled  in  this  way,  and  to  the  ofildal,  when'  so 
selected,  should  be  given  proper  security  of  teniue. 


WHAT  A  WATBRHSUPPLT  8T8TBM  SHOULD  BB 

What  are  the  essentialii  of  a  good  water-supply  system? 
To  be  wholly  satisfactory  for  public  use  a  water  supi^ 


vfmt* 


WATM  BDPPLT 

•hould  fint  of  all  beniffident  in  quantity.  Itmuftbeade- 
quate  not  only  for  ordinary  purpoMt  but  for  emargency 
uac  in  the  event  of  a  coniiai^tion  during  the  driest  aeations 
of  the  year.  Good  water  muet  abo  be  without  color  or 
turbidity,  taite  or  odor;  the  preeenee  of  any  of  theae  ehar- 
actcriBtica  may  make  it  unmiitable  for  both  industrial  and 
private  use.  To  be  thoroughly  satisfactory,  again,  it 
must  be  neither  too  hard  nor  too  soft.  It  must  be  reason- 
ably free  from  objectionable  chemical  salts  in  solution. 
Above  aU  things  it  must  be  pure,  that  is  to  say,  practically 
itvii  from  pathogenic  or  disease-producing  organisms.  In 
a  word,  the  water  supplied  by  any  city  for  public  use  should 
be  adequate  in  quantity,  without  color,  taste,  or  odor,  and, 
besides  being  suitable  in  texture,  it  must  both  ehemicaUy 
and  bacteriologicaUy  be  up  to  the  recogalsed  standards. 
No  city  obtains  ali  '^ese  qualities  in  full  measure.  Abso- 
lute efficiency  het  .  .  s  in  many  other  municipal  depart- 
ments, would  be  more  expensive  than  the  average  city  could 
well  afford.  A  reasonable  approach  to  it  is  all  that  can  be 
asked. 

The  problem  of  an  adequate  water  supply  is  chiefly  one 
of  geography.    Some  cities  are  so  located  as  to  be  provided  Oimn^hr 
by  nature  with  an  exceUent  source  within  easy  radius.  ^SSlf>i 
Take  Glasgow,  for  example.    Only  thirty-four  miles  from 
the  city,  high  among  the  hills,  is  Loch  Katrine,  able  to  pro-  «wiy. 
vide  sufficiently  for  a  dty  of  several  million  people,  lying 
far  above  the  level  of  ordinary  pollution,  with  water  of 
exceUent  natural  quality  and  purity,  which  is  brought  down 
to  the  city  under  gravity  pressure  and  thus     jviates  all 
need  of  pumping  stations.    At  the  other  extreme,  Los 
Angeles  affords  an  equaUy  good  example  of  a  city  ill  favored 
by  geography.     Since  the    nearest  adequate  supply   of 
suitable  water  is  in  the  Owens  River  district,  two  hundred 
and  sixty  miles  away,  the  dty  has  had  to  build  an  aqueduct 
over  this  entire  stretch  at  a  cost  (including  interest  during 
construction)  of  neariy  thirty  nJlions  of  dollars.    Other 


130     PRINCIPLES  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


NewToric 
City  aad  the 
CatddU 


cities  of  Europe  and  America  have  source  problems  of 
greater  or  less  difficulty,  aocording  as  they  are  favorably 
situated  or  not.  Paris  brings  a  part  of  its  water  throu^^ 
the  Vannes  aqueduct  over  a  distance  of  one  hundred 
miles ;  London  draws  its  enormous  daUy  consumption  from 
the  Upper  Thames,  the  Severn,  and  the  Lea,  all  within 
fifty  miles ;  Berlin  depends  upon  the  lakes  of  Brandenburg, 
which  are  within  easier  reach.  New  York's  supply  comes 
through  the  Croton  and  Catskill  aqueducts,  in  the  case  at 
the  latter  a  distance  of  neariy  one  hundred  and  twenty 
miles;  Boston  draws  from  the  Nashua  watershed,  which 
is  much  nearer;  and  Chicago  takes  its  supply  directly 
from  Lake  Michigan.  None  of  these  cities  filter  their 
entire  supply ;  in  each  case  the  water  is  drawn  from  sources 
that  are  bdieved  to  be  reasonably  protected  from  o<uh 
tamination. 

The  new  Catskill  water  supply  of  New  York  City  em- 
bodies a  feat  of  water  engineering  so  remarkable  as  to  d^ 
serve  more  than  a  passing  mention.  Until  a  few  years  ago 
the  city's  supply  came  chiefly  from  the  Croton  watershed; 
but,  since  the  continued  growth  of  the  metropolis  was  put* 
ting  too  much  demand  upon  this  source,  the  new  one> 
hundred-and-twenty-mile  Catskill  aqueduct  with  its  variou 
reservoirs  was  planned  and  completed.  One  of  its  xeser> 
voirs,  the  Ashokan,  has  a  storage  capacity  of  nearly  one 
hundred  and  thirty  billion  gallons,  or  enough  to  serve  the 
whole  dty  for  ei^t  months  at  the  present  rate  of  co»> 
sumption.  This,  moreover,  is  in  addition  to  the  old  Crotmi 
supply.  The  entire  cost  of  the  new  sjrstem  was  slightly 
under  two  hundred  million  dollars.  At  New  York's  present 
ratio  of  increase  in  population  the  watonnipply  problem  is 
now  solved  for  about  thirty-five  years  at  least.  There  to 
water  in  sight  for  a  dly  of  ten  millions.  The  aqueduct  and 
reservoirs  are  said  to  constitute  the  most  stupendous  fln- 
gineering  achievonent  in  the  entire  history  of  municipal 
administration. 


WATKB  SUPPLY 


181 


WHEBB  PUBUC  WATER  SUPPUBS  OOBIE  FBOM 

There  are  four  general  sources  of  munidpal  water  supply, 
namely,  ground  watos,  lakes,  impounded  watersheds,  ATaOau* 
and  rivers.  Many  of  the  smaller  cities  of  this  country  wmter 
obtain  their  water  from  groimd  sources,  that  is,  from  weUs  "^^^- 
driven  to  the  water-bearing  stratum  beneath.  Such  wells, 
as  a  rule,  give  a  water  supply  that  is  clear  and  pure,  but 
usually  too  hard  for  satisfactory  domestic  and  industrial 
use  without  chemical  treatment.  Among  the  largest 
cities  using  this  source  of  supply  are  Lowell,  Canton, 
Memphis,  and  San  Antonio.  From  lakes,  the  second 
of  the  general  sources,  many  of  the  chief  cities  of  the 
country  obtain  their  water.  Chicago,  Cleveland,  Buffalo, 
Duluth,  and  Milwaukee  all  draw  from  the  Great  Lakes 
through  intakes  set  well  out  from  the  shore,  sometimes  a 
distance  of  four  or  five  miles.  Rochester,  Syracuse,  and 
St.  Paul  depend  upon  smaller  lakes  in  their  respective 
neighborhoods,  and  so  do  many  less  populous  mimicipali- 
ties.  The  impounded  water  of  various  small  streams  fur> 
nishes  supply  for  New  York,  Boston,  Baltimore,  San  Fran- 
cisco, Jersey  City,  and  other  great  centres.  Many  large 
American  cities  derive  their  entire  supply  of  wrater  from 
bigger  riven,  using  it  with  or  without  filtration.  Phila- 
delphia draws  from  the  Delaware  and  Schuylkill,  St.  Louis 
and  New  Orleans  from  the  Missinippi,  Toledo  from  the 
Maumee,  Washington  from  the  Potomac,  and  Louisville 
from  the  Ohio. 

Ground  waters  are  reasonably  safe ;  there  is  little  or  no 
danger  of  contamination  at  the  source.  Lake  water  is  less  ^^J 
to  be  depended  on.  The  waters  of  the  Great  Lakes  receive  ywAaua 
the  sewage  from  cities  and  towns  containing  several  miUionB 
of  people ;  hence  the  danger  of  trusting  those  &.  iroes  for  a 
pure  supply  is  increasing  ytar  by  year.  These  lakes  are 
large  enou^  in  area,  but  some  of  them,  particularly  Lake 
Erie,  are  relatively  shallow  — a  physical  feature  which  of 


132     PRINCIPLBS  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


course  increases  the  chances  of  contamination.  Small  lakes, 
if  protected  vigilantly,  are  usually  safe  sources,  but  the 
danger  of  accidental  pollution  is  always  to  be  reck:oned  with. 
Impoimded  water  from  protected  catchment  areas,  when 
stored  in  reservoirs  for  a  sufficient  time,  is  also  reasonabty 
safe,  thou^  sometimes  faulty  in  color  and  other  commer- 
cial respects.  It  has  been  found  by  experiment  that  the 
bacterial  removal  resulting  from  a  fortnight's  storage 
amounts  to  over  90  per  cent,  and  that  storage  for  several 
months  will  remove  noxious  organisms  almost  entirely.' 
River  supplies  are  rarely  safe  without  filtration.  Although, 
as  we  have  seen,  many  large  cities  continue  to  use  the  un- 
filtered  waters  of  great  rivers,  they  will  in  time,  with  the 
growth  of  population  and  industry,  find  it  impossible  to 
continue  this  policy  without  grave  menace  to  the  public 
health.  It  is  chiefly  for  the  cities  which  have  been  draw- 
ing  their  suppUes  from  such  sources  that  filtration  systems 
are  now  being  provided.  Geography,  therefore,  is  a  large 
factor  in  the  wateiHsupply  problem.  It  favors  some  cities 
and  leaves  others  at  a  great  disadvantage. 


Whatoon- 

■tittttMUt 

•daqiwte 

water 
mpsty. 


HOW  MUCH  WATBS  IB  NEEDED 

Statistics  of  public  water  consumption  show  a  great  differ- 
ence in  the  needs  of  various  commimities.  I^e  average 
amount  of  water  daily  supplied  to  European  cities  is  about 
forty  gallons  per  head  of  population.  In  some  cities  of 
France,  Italy,  and  Germany  it  is  as  low  as  t,  *y  gallons 
per  capita  daily ;  in  Glasgow  it  is  nearly    -  galloos. 

In  the  cities  of  the  United  States,  howeve  ,  daily  pet 
capita  consumption  is  very  much  higher;  u.t^./  is  it  less 
than  one  hundred  gallons,  and  some  cities  use  as  many  as 
two  hundred  gallons  per  capita  daily.    Great  diversity  in 

>  O.  A.  JohnwB,  The  PwHieatioH  cf  Publie  Water  SuppUee  (WMUagtoa, 
m3),  IH»-  11-12.  Ob  tlw  gaiand  qoMtioa  of  iaqwaadiiig  wfttar,  ••• 
Owq^  F.  Swain.  The  Ccmtmatim  ot  Water  6y  Stante  (N«w  Ibmt, 

IvlOI. 


WATER  SUFPLT 


188 


ioMcitiM 
nnio 


this  respect  essts  among  dties  in  different  parts  of  the 
country  and  even  among  cities  in  the  same  geographical 
area.  The  variation  is  due  to  a  number  of  causes,  but 
more  particularly  to  the  fact  that  some  cities  use  the  meter 
system  to  a  much  larger  extent  than  others. 

Why  should  American  dties  use  so  much  more  water 
than  cities  of  corresponding  sise  in  Europe?    This  question   yn^Anm- 
though  often  asked,  is  not  difficult  to  answer.    The  lavish  *~'*^ 
use  of  water  in  America  is  due  to  several  causes.    For  one 
thing,  a  far  more  general  installation  of  sanitary  appUances 
m  the  houses  of  this  country  accounts  for  it  to  some  extent. 
Bathtubs  are  rarely  provided  in  the  middle-class  dwellings 
of  Europe,  and  never  in  the  houses  of  the  poor.    In  all 
probability,  also,  the  consumption  of  water  in  industries  is 
greater  on  this  side  of  the  AtUntic.    Some  of  the  disparity 
18  due,  no  doubt,  to  the    reUtively  luxurious  and  often 
wasteful  habits  of  the  American  people,  to  the  lack  of 
efficient  plumbing  inspection,  and  to  the  fact  that  very  few 
cities  have  metered  the  greater  portion  of  their  water  dis- 

•  The  variation  b  diown  in  the  foUowing  table,  which  give,  the  averase 
per  oai^ta  water  ponromption.  throughort  thTyear,  o*  dSe  toiSTi^ 
different  geographical  regions  of  the  United  Stetoe  •  — 


Kmim 

Cmas 

DautPbb  Camta 

Coamimimni 

Qtujotm 

New  England 

40 
44 
16 
66 

63 
6 
6 
6 
0 

Middle  Atlantic  Statee      ..'.'' 
South  Atlantic  States                     *    '    ' 
OhioVaUey     ....'.'.['.'' 
Upper  Missiaaippi  Valley  '"'''• 

J/)wer  Mississippi  and  Gulf  Regioii    ! 
Rocky  Mountain  Region       .    . 

Pacific  Coast       !     '     ' 

Canada .... 

86 
137 

go 

88 

73 

83 

283 

ao4 

— ___ 

106 

Uinedi*n*thi^'^Jt°i  fS!*!?***  •*««'»'»"•  whole  subject  is  that  con- 

•«u  Mecxmis,    pnntM  in  Journal  tf  Uu  Nnt  Bnaland  Wakmr  W«*i»  a  ^ 
M«ah<wi,  ntvii.  30-143  (Manh.  1913).  «VM»*  watn  Work$  At- 


Tbefaeton 
in  water 
conaump- 
tion:  pub- 
lic UN. 


134     PRINCIPLES  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

tribution.*  It  has  been  hinted  that  a  high  per  capita  water 
consumption  is  evidence  of  an  advanced  urban  civilization; 
but  it  is  also,  to  some  extent  at  least,  a  sign  of  that 
readiness  to  tolerate  waste  which  too  often  characteriies 
the  authorities  in  all  departments  of  American  city  admin- 
istration. This  is  particularly  true  of  water  used  for  public 
purposes  in  parks,  civic  buildings,  and  the  like. 

To  say  that  the  American  city  must  provide,  every  day 
in  the  year,  one  hundred  gallons  of  water  for  every  man, 
woman,  and  child  in  its  population  is  a  statement  that  will 
startle  most  people.  What  does  a  city  do  with  two  tons  d 
water  per  family  each  day?  Obviously,  no  such  quantity 
of  water  is  used  for  personal  and  domestic  use.  Where, 
then,  does  it  go?  Public  requirements,  in  the  first  place, 
account  for  perhaps  10  per  cent  of  it.  The  fire-protecti(m 
service,  for  instance,  uses  a  great  deal  of  water  at  times; 
but,  after  all,  large  fires  occur  so  rarely  that  the  average 
consumption  of  water  by  this  service  is  a  very  small  factor 
in  the  total.*  For  sprinkling  streets,  watering  parks,  and 
flushing  sewers  a  good  deal  of  water  is  daily  required.  Then 
the  pubUc  fountains,  watering-troughs,  sanitary  depots, 
together  with  the  use  of  water  in  police  stations,  fire  stations, 
schoolhouses,  and  other  public  buildings,  all  combine  to 
make  the  city  a  large  customer.  It  is  difficult  to  form  an 
accurate  estimate  of  these  combined  requirements,  but  to 
say  that  ten  gallons  per  capita  are  needed  each  day  for  all 
these  public  purposes  would  not  be  making  too  liberal  an 
allowance.  No  one  can  well  complain  if  a  free  and  even 
lavish  use  of  water  is  made  in  such  public  services;  m 
point  of  general  safety,  comfort,  and  convenience  they  are 

>  From  the  itandpoint  ot  mraely  oortailinc  waste  it  rardy  pajra  to 
meter  over  75  per  oent  of  the  entire  wst«aHligtributioii  lervioee.  It  ii 
usual  to  begin  meterinc  the  tene-nents,  Caotoiies,  shops,  stores,  ud 
apartment  houses,  leaving  the  separate  dwelling  houses  in  the  best  ns> 
idential  areas  of  the  dty  till  toward  the  latt.  Consequently  the  gnat* 
pmrtion  ttf  tite  waste  has  beat  eheefeed  long  heton  the  entire  work  is 
finished. 

*-  Cf.  below,  p.  343. 


WATIR  SUPPLY 


KB 


no  doubt  worth  all  that  the  water  costs.  To  say  this,  how- 
ever, is  not  to  imply  that  wasteftOness  in  this  branch  of  the 
public  service  ought  to  be  tolerated  or  condoned.  Avoid- 
able wastage  is  surely  none  the  less  reprehensible  because 
it  occurs  in  the  pursuit  of  an  altogether  worthy  end. 

Then  there  is  the  large  water  consumption  in  channels 
of  industry.    The  quantity  of  water  required  daily  for  in- 
dustrial and  trade  use  varies  greatly  from  city  to  city ;  for 
not  only  are  some  cities  chiefly  industrial  and  others  mainly 
residential,  but  different  forms  of  industry  have  need  for 
widely  varying  quantities  of  water.      Grist-mills,  for  ex- 
ample, use  relatively  little,  whereas  dyeing,  bleaching,  and 
cleaning  establishments,  tanneries,  laundries,  and  breweries 
use  a  great  deal.    In  the  dyeing  of  silk,  for  instance,  a 
thousand  gallons  of  water,  it  is  said,  are  required  for  each 
pound  of  textile.    Railroad  terminals,  it  may  be  noted,  are 
enormoiis  consumers  of  water;  in  Boston  the  railways  call 
on  the  city's  water  supply  for  about  four  million  gallons  per 
day.    Hotels  and  restaurants,  department  stores,  and  other 
large  trading  institutions  make  heavy  demands ;  and,  finally, 
all  establishments  that  use  steam  power  or  that  are  heated  by 
steam  need  considerable  quantities  of  water  for  their  boilers. 
In  any  large  city  the  various  agencies  of  industry  and  trade 
will  take  from  20  to  40  per  cent  of  the  city's  ddly  supply, 
the  exact  proportion,  as  has  been  said,  depending  largely 
upon  the  industrial  peculiarities  of  the  community.    The 
industrial  demand,   moreover,  is  steadily  increasing,   en- 
couraged to  some  extent,  perhaps,  by  the  fact  that  special 
rates  are  usually  given  to  large  establishments. 

Under  the  head  of  water  used  for  domestic  purposes  it  is 
usual  to  include  not  only  water  required  for  drinking  and 
for  ordinary  kitchen  needs,  but  also  all  water  used  in  house- 
hold sanitary  appliances  such  as  sinks,  baths,  and  toilets, 
together  with  what  is  consumed  in  the  summer  season  for 
watering  lawns  &.tn  gardens.  A  reasonable  daily  require- 
ment for  such  domestic  uses  may  be  set  down  at  from 


Induitrial 

UdtfMfo 


TlolllMlfo 
UM. 


136     PRINCIPLIS  OF  AfUNICIPAL  ADMINIBTRATION 

fifteen  to  forty  gillons  pev  capita,  but  when  meters  are 
generally  employed  the  estimate  can  always  be  kept  wdl 
below  the  higher  figur«}.  It  Las  been  fotmd  that  the  dome^ 
tie  consumption,  like  the  industrial,  varies  greatly  from  ctfy 
to  city  and  even  in  different  sections  of  the  same  dty.  As 
might  be  expected,  the  use  of  water  for  domestic  purposes 
increases  about  in  proportion  to  the  valuation  of  the  property 
served,  for  the  better  houses  of  the  city  are  the  ones  most 
adeqiiately  furnished  with  water-using  sanitary  fixtures. 
It  is  a  significant  sociological  fact  that,  when  domestic  ser* 
vices  are  metered,  the  per  capita  consumption  varies  enor> 
mously  in  different  classes  of  dwellings.* 


Water 


(l)bam 

Icakacein 

thenutiaa; 


HOW  WATER  18  WAflTBD 

Hiese  three  factors,  —  namely,  public,  industrial,  and 
domestic  use,  —  when  computed  on  a  fairly  liberal  basis, 
account  for  only  about  seventy-five  or  eighty  gallons  d 
daily  consiunption  pa  head  of  population.  How  are  the 
remaining  twenty  or  twenty-five  gallons  in  total  consum|H 
tion  to  be  explained?  In  plain  words,  they  are  wasted. 
Waste  is,  in  fact,  the  fourth  chid  element  in  a  city's  daify 
water  consumption.  And  then  are  various  clumnels  dt 
waste,  both  public  and  private.  The  amount  of  water  lost 
throuj^  breaks,  defects,  and  leaks  in  street  mains  is  veiy 
large.  With  as  many  as  four  hundred  and  forty  joints  to 
every  mile  of  water  mains,  besides  the  connections  at  valves, 
hydrants,  and  service  pipes,  it  is  beyond  reason  to  expect 

>  The  foUowiiif  flguraa,  oompiled  tnm  metar  nadiiigi  in  Boatam  mmw 
yean  ago,  Ulustnte  tUa  pdnt  Taqr  well :  — 


Tnm  or 


High-elan  aiMkitments  .  . 
Moderate-olaas  apwtmMiU 
Tenement  houaea      .    .    . 


Dailt  Pbs  Cahta  OaaaBMk 


50 
32 
UL6 


^^5 


WATBR  aUPPLT 


117 


that  sU  win  hold  tight,  paitieulariy  when  one  keeps  in 
mind  the  constant  disturbanee  of  the  ground  witiiin  the 
street  limits  or  alongside  by  reason  of  excavations  and  new 
construction  woric  Watei^supply  engineers,  in  practice, 
usuaUy  figure  on  a  normal  daUy  leakage  of  sixty  to  eighty 
gallons  per  mile  for  each  inch  in  the  diameter  of  the 
mains.  This  means  that  a  twelve-inch  main  is  doing  its 
work  satisfactorily  when  it  wastes  seven  or  ei^t  hundred 
gaUons  daUy  per  mile.  Besides  this  loss  there  are  always 
the  unforeseen  and  accidental  leaks  and  breakages  which 
are  often  not  discovered  at  once,  the  water  finding  its  way 
underground  to  an  adjacent  sewer  or  some  other  unnoticed 
outlet.  Mains  leaking  at  the  rate  of  over  one  thousand 
gaUons  per  hour  have  sometimes  remained  undiscovered  for 
weeks  at  a  time.  There  are,  of  course,  various  appliances 
for  detecting  this  waste,  but  even  after  a  leak  is  found  it 
takes  time  to  get  excavations  made  and  the  pipe 
repaired.^ 

Then  there  is  the  waste  which  results  from  defective 
plumbing  and  negligence  in  repairing  it.  In  houses  built  «>*«« 
by  contract,  particularly  in  the  so-called  "three-decken"  or  t£^' 
cheaper  apartment  buildings,  the  plumbing  materials  are 
often  inferior  and  the  workmanship  poor.  Valves  and 
faucets  prove  leaky,  the  ball-cocks  of  toilets  fail  to  sit 
properly,  and  a  steady  waste  of  water  is  the  result.  A  rigid 
plumbing  ordinance,  reinforced  by  a  regular  and  careful 
system  of  plumbing  inspection,  would  put  an  end  to  much 
of  this  waste ;  but  in  too  many  cities  the  plumbing  regular 
tions  are  inadequate  and  the  inspection  is  more  or  less  per- 
functoiy.  The  loss  of  water  in  this  way,  ^rhea  services  are 
umnetered,  can  never  be  reckoned  with  much  approach  to 

wd  aodd«Bty.  aoeomit  for  •  wMtac«  ot  ftom  time  to  UamSami^ 
relation  of  Ui»3a^  to  w»t«r  eoaaumptioB  in  •  bm  amnlMr  oTAiZri^ 


138     PRINCIPLKS  OF  MX7NICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


(3)fimn 
bottwhcM 
na^igeaee 
and  wilful 


Means  of 

prevmtiiig 

waite. 


accuracy,  but  it  must  be  very  lai^.  Much  water  is ' 
fully  used  throughout  the  summer  in  watering  lawns,  inm, 
and  grass  plots.  It  is  hard  to  make  people  understand  thai 
the  use  of  more  fertilising  material  and  less  water  would 
not  only  be  cheaper  in  the  long  run  but  would  give  Ua 
bet>  "  results. 

Iiiaally,  there  is  the  considerable  waste  of  water  invdved 
in  keeping  fixtures  from  freesing  in  cold  weaUier.  In  the 
minds  of  most  householders  it  is  cheaper  to  let  a  smaB 
stream  run  all  night  from  the  kitchen  faucet  than  to  pay  a 
plumber  for  thawing  out  the  frosen  pipes  in  the  morning. 
It  takes  but  a  very  small  stream,  it  is  true,  to  keq>  pipes 
from  freesing,  but  even  if  this  stream  be  only  one  sixteosth  <rf 
an  inch  in  diametw  it  means  a  waste  of  tiiirty-f our  galkms 
per  hour ;  and  when  this  practice  is  pursued  all  over  the 
city  it  involves  a  loss  of  millions  of  gallons  during  ev«y  cdd 
night  of  winter.  It  has  been  estimated  that  in  Boston, 
where  about  60  per  cent  of  the  service  is  unmetered,  this 
particular  variety  of  waste  amounts  to  nearly  a  billion 
gallons  per  winter.  In  Cleveland,  on  the  other  hand,  whoe 
practicably  the  whole  service  is  metered,  the  loss  frmn  this 
practice  seems  to  have  been  greatly  reduced.  In  the  former 
city  the  maximum  consumption  comes  during  the  nif^ 
hours  of  the  coldest  period  in  winter ;  in  the  latter  it  comm 
at  its  natxiral  period,  namely,  during  the  day  hours  in  the 
warm  months  of  summer. 

There  are  various  methods  of  preventing  waste.  AH 
of  them,  however,  involve  the  expenditure  of  money  for 
appliances  and  for  labor.  Hence  they  are  not  alwayi 
fully  used,  even  in  larger  cities.  For  one  thing,  leakage  in 
the  mains  can  be  discovered  by  the  use  of  contrivsneei 
that  record  the  flow  in  different  conduits.  Then,  in  recent 
years  some  cities  have  undertaken  comprehensive  wat«p> 
wast«  surveys,  which  involve  thorough  investiga^n  ^ 
all  the  factors  in  the  daily  water  consumption  with  a  view 
to  eliminating  or  reducing  waste  at  every  possible  pousi 


WATIR  M7PPLT 


IW 


These  rurveyi  h*ye  in  «vay  ease  diseloeed  lufe  wastage 
ftt  many  plaees  and  have  resulted  in  bringing  forth  various 
recommendations  for  its  preventiim.^  Much  can  be  accom- 
plished in  water-waste  preventiim  by  a  wdMramed  phunb- 
ing  ordinance  accompanied  by  a  rigid  qrstem  of  periodic 
house  inspection  by  trained  plumbing  inspectors,  who,  being 
subject  to  dvil-'service  regulations,  are  removed  £rom  sinister 
political  iniuence.'  But  the  poUey  of  putting  at  least  76 
per  cent  of  the  supply  under  a  syston  of  individual 
meters  will  do  more,  in  tiie  way  of  preventing  wator  waste, 
than  all  other  expedients  ccmibined ;  for  the  e]qp6ri«ice  of 
American  cities  has  very  dearty  shown  that  the  daafy  con- 
sumption of  water  m  steadity  reduced  to  »  reasimable  rate 
whenever  one  part  of  the  city  after  anothn  is  brougjit  into 
the  metered  area.'  Something  of  this  sort,  indeed,  becomes 
all  the  more  urgmt  in  view  of  the  fact  that  cities,  as  they 
grow,  need  more  water  and  water  of  better  quality.  As  the 
commodity  bemmies  corresponding^  more  valuable  the 
financial  loss  incurred  throuf^  wastage  is  sure  to  mount 
steadily  higher.  There  are,  of  course,  some  objections  to  the 
meter  system  of  water  distribution ;  these  drawbacks  will 
be  discussed  a  little  later  in  this  chapter. 


HOW  THB  QUAUTT  OF  A  WATER  BUPPLT  IB  IMFBOVED 

Not  only  must  a  public  water  system,  to  be  efficient,  fur-  .^^  gaaih, 
nish  an  adequate  supply  for  the  city's  reas(mable  needs,  as  of  wntw. 

'  See,  for  exaaqda,  th«  iMunpWet  Watar  Watlu  iSnrNy,  iasmd  by  the 
Milwankee  Buwg  of  KoiHuniiy  and  Bfleieney,  BtMtUn,  No.  11  (Deeam- 
ber,  1911);  aad  Hmnpattaa an "TamtitlHtioaot  Water Waate in Mei»- 
phiB,"  by  C.  S.  Davi%  in  Mmndpal  Enfinmrint,  dL  104-110  (Augurt. 
1911),  An  eMOAf  bnt  very  uiflRM0li  fepnl  ra  toe  mbjeot.  by  ueuLlev 
Bnokett,  may  be  foaod  in  Jmmui  ^  t*e  Nm  Snfkmd  Wltr  WoHu  Amo- 
ciotum,  ZTiii.  107-100  (JuM,  IWM). 

*  An  mdinaaae  that  nda^t  well  Mnre  ae  a  model  is  the  aoB  maoted  by 
Cohimbue,  OUo^  in  1909.  Ba»  Tkt  Phtmbktt  Cod*  4^  Catumbua  {^ippnmi 
June  28. 1909). 

'  Some  intereetiBC  tgatm  on  thfa  |Miat  amy  eoamnieatly  be  fooid  in 
T^  Anurietta  City,  ir&  46  (July,  1912). 


140    PRDfCIPLM  Of  MUNIOIPAL  AOMINWnUTION 


TIm 

■ofteniag 
of  mter. 


out  lined  in  the  preceding  pAngraphs ;  but  the  lupply  mm 
be  clear,  tasteleie,  odorien,  and  pure,  beridea  being  auitable^ 
aa  regarda  ita  hardneiB  or  aoftneaa,  for  the  great  variety  «| 
induatrial  and  domeatio  uaea  required  of  it.  Water  poMa» 
ing  all  theae  qualitiea  in  ita  natural  aUte  ia  praotioelly  nevw 
obtainable.  Usualty  it  needa  to  be  aoftened,  or  treated  io 
aome  way  to  get  rid  of  turbidity  or  muiidneaa,  that  ia,  to 
eliminate  subataneea  held  in  auapenaion.  Sometimea  it  f 
quirea  treatment  to  improve  ita  cdor  m  to  remove  aHgHt^y 
offenaive  qualitiea  in  taste  or  odor.  Finally,  and  moat  un- 
portant  of  all,  the  water  muat  be  kept  free,  or  made  reaaoi* 
ably  free,  from  nozioua  bactoia  or  other  organinna  like^ 
to  cause  diseaae  or  discomfort,  a  oonaideration  that  requires 
a  proper  protection  of  the  aouroes,  or  adequate  storage,  or 
aome  process  of  water  purification.  The  chief  qualitiea  of 
a  public  water  supply,  so  far  as  they  affect  the  conaumer, 
are,  accordingly,  its  hardness,  ita  attractiveness  in  poiiit 
of  taate  and  appearance,  and  its  hygienic  purity. 

In  some  parts  of  the  country  water  that  comea  from 
ground  supplies,  or  from  impounded  springs  and  w".!! 
streams,  or  even  from  rivers,  is  likely  to  be  too  hard  for 
satisfactory  domestic  and  industrial  use.  It  produoos 
scale  in  boilers,  for  example,  with  a  resulting  extra  ei- 
penditure  for  fuel,  and  in  laundry  use  it  requires  either  aa 
extravagant  amount  of  soap  or  else  the  application  of 
soda  compounds,  which  injure  fabrics.  Housewives  and 
others  dislike  hard  water,  with  good  reason.  Water  that 
contains  lime  and  magnesia  to  the  extent  of  over  fifty  parts 
per  million,  or  in  other  words  more  than  three  grains  per 
gallon,  is  commonly  regarded  as  being  too  hard  for  oidi- 
naiy  use  without  softening,  and  the  household  softening 
process,  it  is  figured,  involves  a  soap  wastage  of  seven  or 
eight  dollars  per  million  gallons.*    The  consequence  is  that 

i«  n^  S^*',*^  "S^f  **^  invMiigfttions  into  tfaia  mattar  an  gina 
toO^ C.  Whipple'.  Value  <^  Pur,  WaUr  (New  York.  IWf),  pp.  3^98, 


WJLTWn  lUPPLT 


141 


wvenl  large  dtict  of  the  United  Sutee,  unoag  tlwm  St. 
I^Hiis,  New  Orleiuie,  and  Colunibui,  have  to  eofteii  their 
•uppUes  before  deUvering  to  the  people.  TTie  eofteiiiiig 
pUnt  in  Columbtii  ie  the  moet  inteneting  in  the  oountiy' 
althou^  a  ■omewfaat  laiger  phut  ie  now  operated  in  St! 
Louii.  In  general  the  proeeae  conaiets  in  treating  the  water 
with  lime  or  Mda  aah,  both  appUed  in  eolation.  How  mneh 
wftening  chemieal  ia  needed  dependa,  of  oourae,  partly  on 
the  original  hardneea  of  the  water  and  partly  on  the  length 
of  time  available  between  the  treatment  of  the  water  and  ita 
use.  The  chemical  is  not  eipeniive,  but  sometimee  laiae 
quantities  of  it  are  required. 

When  a  water  supply  is  taken  ♦rom  a  river  or  a  shallow 
lake  it  may  be  too  turbid  for  ready  use,  —  that  is  to  say,  it  Tkat- 
may  be  murky  in  appearance  from  the  faet  that  H  contains  ZSii 
numberless  smaU  atoms  of  mud  or  other  foreign  substanoea.  «5*a 
The  rivers  of  the  Middle  West  show  this  charaeteristie  very  "*"' 
prominently.    Such  water  can  be  cUrified,  in  some  casee,  Iw 
storing  it  for  a  time  in  a  settling  basin  or  reservoir;  a  few 
days  wiU  usually  suffice,  if  the  original  turbidity  is  not  too 
great  and  the  clay  particles  are  not  too  fine.    When  stoi^ 
age  is  not  convenient,  however,  the  process  of  darifying 
can  be  hastened  by  the  appUcation,  in  lektively  small 
quantities,  of  a  coagukting  chemical  like  sulphate  of  iron 
or  sulphate  of  aluminum,  whieh  causes  the  ■mfti|  partidee 
of  nupended  matter  to  draw  together  and  drop  to  the 
bottom.    If  skilfully  carrtj'l  out,  the  chemical  treatment 
clears  the  water  of  all  murkiness  without  leaving  any  taste 
or  odor.    From  time  to  time,  of  course,  the  settling  basin 
or  reservoir  has  to  be  cleaned  out. 

Wf    .  drawn  from  small  lakes,  from  impounded  sources, 
or  from  natural  storage  reservoin  is  sometimes  affected  by  Tfc«««Mi« 
organiams  that  grow  in  the  mains,  and  by  the  growth  of  SS""^ 
alg»  and  allied  microKM>pie  ve^aMe  organisms  in  the  reser-  e^"** 
'oirs  or  sources.    These  growths  may  give  the  whole  water 
supply  a  slightly  stained  appearance,  as  weU  as  a  pereep- 


Itf     PSINCIPUB  or  ICUNIOIPAIi  AOMIKIMHATION 

tible  taste  Mid  odor.  Water  whkh  ii  ao  aifeeted  can  ba 
imiMroved  by  treatment  with  copper  aulphate.  Reier^  ?« 
may  aometimea  be  kept  elmr  of  aipe  by  proper  earr  lad 
treatment  during  the  eaity  aumm^r  soontbi  of  each  ye«r.> 
To  provide  watar  oi  propor  temperature  at  the  houaehoU 
tap  is  abo  deairable.  One  of  the  advantagea  of  a  ground 
water  supply  ia  that  ita  normal  temperature  remaiitt  bdow 
■ixty  d^reea  Fahrenheit  even  in  aummer. 


Tlwtee* 

MMpBri- 

arMioaaf 


Wstn 
uaaiytim. 


IBM  FSBD   or  WBM  WATES 

But  it  ia  not  enough  th»t  w»t«r  diall  be  cb  ar,  taateiea^ 
and  £ree  from  odors.  It  must  also  be  pure,  —  that  i»  to 
say,  reasonabfy  free  from  disease-producing  germH.  Water 
tliat  haa  come  into  contact  with  sewage  ia  almt^t  sur^  o 
contiun  a  dangeroiuly  hi|^  number  of  pathogem  badli^ 
and  iience  is  unfit  fur  use  without  some  form  of  pur  ieaticm. 
Whether  a  water  nupply  has  been  contaminated  in  tits  wa 
(and  contact  with  sewage  is  the  chief  form  of  water  pollu- 
tk>n)  ^m  be  aaeertained  by  ehemicui  and  bactm  Ic^eal  ta^a. 
The  chemical  testis  are  not  difiScult  to  make,  btit  unfora^ 
nately  tney  are  not  conclusive.  If  a  sample  of  ^ater  .kaa 
from  the  pipea  proves  to  contain  an  uniMual  perteatb,,  d 
chlorine  or  of  free  and  albuminoid  ammonia  or  of  nitrataa, 
the  fair  presumption  is  that  it  has  sor^ehow  been  in  ccsr 
tact  with  decomposing  oi^uie  matt«  That  means,  in 
moat  cag<^,  that  it  has  been  in  s  ntaet  mth  ^  -wage.  Chlo- 
rine and  nitrates  are  not  thems-  ves  da^  -rous;  but  Lm 
presence  in  aboonnal  percent  ^^es  cr  -  ti  9U6|  '^ioB 
that  other  thiiup  are  there  as  v.  <  1. 

llie  ch^oiic  i  analysie  for  c  torine,  aui  <nni  .  o^  uitratr- 
k  at  beat  tmiv  a  quick  way  of  diaeoverini:  w    ether  wat* 

*  (hi  the  effeef«  oi  alcB  «ad  their  roc  >vti.  Me  O.  C.  Whipi^e's  Mieri 
aeaffi  9/  Drinking  WaUr  (3d  mA-,  Htm  Yn. .     1M4),  eipecially  oha.  xvi-zvi . 
akmt  the  vwk>u8  boQetias  on  tt*>  Mbjeot  o!  4%»  aad  al^undee  imied  by  tte 
Umted  Slates  rJopartaBMit  «f   Agrienltii  <>,  Bureau    >f  Pbat  IndnrtiTf 
eqMcfatSy  Not.  U4  (liM)  mi  W  (lfl(»). 


gpn 


WATIR  iUFPLT 


148 


re- 


oufbt  to  be  pai  undar  miipiobn,  and  it  i»  oHea  vmd  pmd- 
ii^  a  bacterial  examination;  hut  both  fonna  of  anatyna 
resMy  needed  to  afford  Kven  an  approach  to  sure 
Tlie  bacterial  aaatyss  require^  tome  time,  aa  wdl 
t  lipccial  apparatus  and  the  sisrvioeH  oi  a  akilled  analyat. 
llip  scope  aiui  nature  of  chemical  and  bacterial  tetta  art 
BiatterB  far  too  tec* lical  to  be  explained  here.  Ndther 
torn  oi  examination,  moreover,  absolutely  eonduaive; 
4  m  pathogenic  bacteria  which  will  eae^M 
.  ery  known  test.  The  rarioM  method 
u^lysiH  ^oould  be  regarded  r<;  merdy  eorrobor»> 
rlu(  ig  in  their  teatimon.  Moreover,  it  takea 
^xi  ees  tr  ntopret  the  i^alta  of  an  ana^rda 
^her  ^  more  danger  of  blundering  hera 
uy  oth  brandi  of  eanitaiy  science.  The 
oateveritma,  oe,  ia  umially  eiqprened  in  a  given 
oi  bacterial  oq^niama  per  cubic  centimetor,  a 
leaaure  equal  to  about  one  third  oi  a  teaqMonful.  Pol- 
ed water  may  show  sevoral  thousand  mch  organiama  per 
cubic  centimeter ;  filtered  water,  (>r  a  ^ter  derived  from  an 
unpolluted  source,  ought  to  and  tally  doea  ojw  kii 
than  a  hundred,  and  these  chiefly  '  "«.* 


water  ii4»> 
dkcovrtTf 

ive  " 
*.  ron  n 
than  t 
n  in 

iiuuber 


RELATION  OF  WATBR  SOTPLY 

Of  all  water-borne  diseases  typh<^  fever  is  the  moat 
common  and  the  most  dreaded.    Indeed,  it  may  fairly  be  ^2^ 
said  that,  under  normal  conditions,  the  typhoid  rate  ia  a 
good  though  not  an  infallible  index  of  wat«>«upply  efficiency 

>  Th*  raoogBiaed  j-XiUmity  oa  awthodi  of  MHtlyas  »  the  i^ert  on 
Standard  Methodt  for  tk$  Bmminatton  of  Wattr  and  Sntttge,  iHBsd  hy  the 
American  PubUoHMlthAaKMMtkm  (3d  «d.,  New  Toric  1913).  AmrfBl, 
non-teohniiMa  little  vdume  by  M.  N.  Baker.  PotabU  Wattr  and  tkt  Mtlkadt 
of  DeUeHng  ImpuriHe$  (New  Tork,  lOOS),  k  indaded  in  the  Yea  Noetnod 
Seicoee  Series.  SUi^dard  UxUboola  at  water  aoalyi^  are  8.  G.  Frraeott 
and  C.-E.  A.  Window*!  BUmtnU  of  Water  BaeUriilon  (3d  ed..  with  ML 
tint  of  refarenoea.  New  Toric.  1913) ;  and  O.  C.  Wh^pla'a  Mierotetn  M 
DrinHng  Water  (3d  ed.,  New  Toric.  1914). 


144     PRINCIPLBS  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


in  any  community.  The  number  of  deaths  from  typhoid 
in  the  United  States  is  estimated  at  over  thirty  thousand 
per  year.  As  the  average  mortality  is  not  more  than  8  per 
cent,  this  means  that  there  are  at  least  three  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  cases  of  typhoid  in  alL  According  to  the 
census  of  1910  the  average  death-rate  from  typhoid  in  the 
iorty-eight  largest  cities  of  the  United  States  was  27.6  per 
100,000  population.  This  is  a  veiy  poor  showing  in  com- 
parison with  that  of  European  cities,  and  it  is  mainly 
attributable  to  the  laxness  of  the  average  American  com- 
munity in  the  matter  of  securing  a  safe  water  supjdy.^ 
There  seems  to  be  no  good  reason  why  any  American  city 
should  in  a  normal  year  have  a  rate  above  ten  deathi 
from  typhoid  per  100,000  population.  Tlie  municipality  that 
maintains  a  ratio  steadily  above  this  figure  is  reqransible 
not  only  for  a  waste  of  human  life  and  for  a  vast  amount  (rf 
suffering,  but  is  pursuing  a  policy  which  is,  as  a  matter  <rf 
dollars  and  cents  alone,  the  falsest  kind  of  economy.  It  has 
been  demonstrated  that  the  entire  cost  of  purifying  a  water 
supply  is  less  than  the  loss  of  wages,  the  outlay  for  medical 
expeoBGB,  and  the  other  financial  penalties  which  are  pot 


'  The  appoided  UUe  ciTW  the  fstae  by  iodiTidiui  eitiet:  — 


*■■(- 


DunHum  >«Mt  Tii«m>  i 


laAaatenCitiM 

Bate  pw  100.000 

laBanpMmOMM 

BMcpwUNMW 

New  York    .    .    . 

12 

London     .... 

Hiikddphi* 

86 

Paria    .    . 

Chieaco  .    . 

16 

Beriin  . 

St.  Lonia 

16 

Vienna 

Boaton     .    . 

as 

Olaatow    . 

Baltinum     . 

81 

Hamboic 

Buffalo    .    . 

21 

Munioh     . 

13 

TheHafue 

1 

See  alao  the  flguree  in  Q.  A.  inhamm'a  PwHJteaHon  ef  PtMk  Watar  Qmrrlim 
(Waahington.  1913). 


WATIR  SUPPLY 


145 


upon  the  people  of  a  community  by  the  continued  use  of 
polluted  water.* 

Typhoid  fever  as  a  specific  aihnent  was  discovered  in 
1829,  and  it  is  an  interesting  fact  that  the  first  attempt  to  JhJJiS?*' 
purify  a  public  water  supply  by  filtering  it  was  made  in  the  pwifloatioa. 
.o.'ne  year.  The  two  things  were  not,  of  course,  in  any 
IV  ay  connected.  This  first  filtering  experiment  was  made 
in  London,  but  it  was  not  till  1852  that  the  filtration  of 
London's  entire  water  supply  began.  In  America  there  were 
no  beginnings  in  scientific  water  purification  until  1872, 
when  a  slow  sand  filter  was  constructed  at  Poughkeepsie, 
New  York.  Others  were  soon  built  elsewhere.  Theai 
came  extensive  tests  conducted  at  the  Lawrraice  e]q>eii- 
ment  station  by  the  Massachusetts  Board  of  Health,  and 
in  the  closmg  decade  of  the  nineteenth  century  many 
thorough  studies  of  the  problem  of  purification  wen  made 
for  various  placra.  Hence  it  is  only  within  the  last  ten  or 
fifteen  years  that  American  cities  have  turned  serious  atten- 
tion to  scientific  watw  treatment.  Nowadays,  however, 
the  demand  for  pure  water  is  gaining  strength  so  rapidly 
that  many  large  cities  have  had  to  meet  the  need  by 
constructing  large  filtratbn  plants.  It  is  estimated  that  in 
1900  less  than  two  million  people  in  this  country  were  using 
filtered  water ;  in  1913  the  number  had  risen  to  ten  millions 
or  more.  Albany,  Philadelphia,  Washington,  Pittsburg, 
have  all  installed  their  filtering  (^ystema  within  the  last 
sixteen  years,  and  plants  are  now  under  oonstruotion  in  at 
least  a  score  of  oth«r  cities.  Thore  are  so  many  kinds  of 
public  water-purifying  plants  that  no  detailed  description 
of  them  can  be  included  here.  A  few  general  features  of 
each  type  may,  however,  be  enumerated. 

>  For  gome  definite  flguna,  lea  O.  C.  Whin^e'i  Vmlvt  tS  Pun  Wttit 
(New  Ywk.  1007),  p.  12.  Md  hb  TyyikoM  rmm  (New  Tori[.  1908),  n>.  37fr- 

367. 


«1 


TlMriow 
MUtd  filter. 


oflloWMUMl 

flitan. 


146     PRINCIPLB8  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 
METHODB  OF  PUBIFTING  WATER 

The  oldest  type  of  public  water  filter  is  that  known  as 
slow  sand  filtration  plant.  It  consists  of  a  water-tight  barai, 
usually  not  larger  than  one  acre  in  area,  supplied  with  suiV> 
able  underdrains  and  filled  to  a  depth  of  several  feet  with 
stone  and  sand.  The  floor  and  walls  are  of  brick,  masonry, 
or  concrete,  and  in  northern  sections  of  the  countiy  the 
basin  is  usually  roofed  over  to  prevent  it  from  freesing  in 
winter.  Along  the  bottom  of  the  basin  is  laid  a  main  con- 
duit, and  leading  into  this  from  both  tddes  are  lateral  drains 
arranged  to  admi+.  water  regularly.  Broken  stone  or  gravel 
is  piled  over  the  conduits  and  above  this  several  f eet  (rf 
fine  sand  are  smoothly  laid.  This  sand  is  the  real  filtoring 
material ;  that  is,  it  is  the  sand,  together  with  the  gektinoui 
film  formed  at  its  surface  by  organic  matter  and  sedimmt 
from  the  water,  which  gives  the  filter  its  efficiency  as  a 
purifier.  When  the  filter  is  ready  for  service,  water  is  psf 
mitted  to  flow  into  it  to  a  depth  of  about  three  feet  abow 
the  surface  of  the  sand,  and  is  kept  at  this  depth  as  it 
slowty  percolates  through  the  sand  to  the  draining  con- 
duits beneath.  The  ordinary  filtering  capacity  is  aboot 
■evMity-five  gallons  per  day  for  each  sqtuue  foot  of  filter 
bed  surface,  or  about  three  million  gallons  daily  per  acre.* 

For  a  few  weeks  after  it  is  first  put  into  operation  ib» 
slow  sand  filter  does  not  do  its  best  work ;  that  is  to  sqr, 
it  does  not  function  properly  until  the  sand  grams 
throughout  the  bed  bAve  become  coated  with  a  thin  film 
of  slimy  deposit  over  the  whole  surface.  When  the  bad 
gets  to  be  so  heavily  coated  with  sediment  that  the 
water  does  not  pass  throuj^  with  enough  rapidity,  ths 
filter  is  drained  and  the  top  layer  of  sediment  and  ^s^ 
•craped  off.  Since  under  ordinary  conditions  this  > 
ing  has  to  be  done  about  once  a  month,  it  is  ne«,    '    „ 

>  This  detoriptton  of  the  riow  nnd  filter  is  oondenied  tnm  Q. 
mm'*  PurMcoMM  cf  PvkUe  Water  SuprtiM.  PP-  31-32. 


WATER  SUPPLY 


147 


to  have  two  or  more  filters  in  a  watewropply   >lant,  one  to 
be  operating  while  the  other  is  being  cleaned.     The  sand 
that  is  scraped  from  the  top  of  the  filter  bed  is  transported 
to  a  place  where  it  is  washed   and  dried  ready  to   be 
used  again,  as  it  is  cheaper    to   do   this   than  to  buy 
new  sand.     There  are  various  mechanical  devices  both 
for  scraping  filter  beds  and  for  washing  sand.    When  prop- 
erly cared  for  and  regularly  cleaned,  the  slow  sand  filter 
gives  exceUent  results  in  the  way  of  bacterial  purification. 
It  renders  a  water  supply  clear  and    pure   beyond  any 
reasonable   danger,  but  it  has  its   practical  limitations. 
It  does  not  offer  a  satisfactory  plan  for  purifying  water 
which  is  naturaUy  very  turbid  or  muddy;   fot  raw  water 
of  this  kind,  when  pumped  into  a  slow  sand  filter,  dogs 
the  surface  too  rapidly  and  necessitates  cleaning  loo  fre- 
quently.   The  rapid  sand  filter,  as  described  a  page  or 
two  later,  is  better  adapted  to  the  treatment  of  such 

The  cost  per  acre  for  the  construction  of  a  slow  sand  filter 
is  not  easy  to  state  in  terms  that  will  hold  good  for  aU  parte  2f£; 
of  the  country,  because  local  conditions  create  great  differ-  ta^ 
ences  in  the  cost  of  both  materials  and  kbor;  but  aboui 
sixty  thousand  dollars  per  acre  represente  a  fair  average 
under  ordinary  conditions.    The  cost  of  operation,  includ- 
ing cleaning,  also  varies  in  different  parte  of  the  country, 
but  it  may  be  reckoned  at  from  two  to  three  dollars  for  each 
million  gaUons  of  water  filtered.    Water^ipply  engineers 
are  in  the  habit  of  estimating  that  the  entire  cost  of  filtering 
water  in  this  way  (including  interest  on  the  cost  of  filters 
and  pumps,  allowances  for  depreciation,  and  all  operating 
expenses)  is  about  ten  dollars  per  million  gallons,  or  about 
thirty  cente  per  year  for  each  head  of  population.    It  ia 
therefore  a  great  deal  cheaper  to  filter  water  than  to  adc 
the  citixens  to  boil  thdr  supply  before  using  it. 

In  Europe  many  large  cities  purify  A«r  oitiw  water 
supply  by  this  process.    One  of  the  vwy  Iftrgest  slow  sand 


148     PRINCIPLBS  OF  MXTNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


plan. 


catiMUiiiig  filters  is  at  Hamburg,  Germany.  The  purifying  plant  is 
M^d-flhw  located  on  two  islands  in  the  Elbe,  and  the  water,  which  is 
pumped  directly  from  the  river,  is  held  for  twenty-four  houn 
in  sedimentation  basins  before  being  turned  into  the  filters. 
There  are  about  twenty-five  filter  beds,  which  amply  pro* 
vide  for  a  city  of  a  million  inhabitants.  During  the  past 
few  years,  however,  Hamburg  has  been  developing  ground 
water  sources  rather  than  extending  the  filter  plant.*  In 
America  the  largest  slow  sand  filters  are  those  at  Albany, 
Philadelphia,  Pittsburgh,  and  Washington.*  The  Albany 
plant,  which  was  completed  in  1899,  has  a  daily  capadty 
of  about  fifteen  million  gallons.  The  Philadelphia  filters  at 
RoxborO;  Belmont,  Torresdale,  and  Queen  Luie  form  to- 
gether the  largest  plant  of  this  kind  in  any  country.  Thejr 
have  a  combined  capacity  of  over  four  hundred  milli<m 
gallons  per  day,  —  enough  for  a  city  of  four  million  peopk, 
if  not  wastefully  used.  These  four  are  our  most  extensive 
undertakings,  but  many  smaller  cities  in  all  parts  of  the 
country  are  using  the  same  system. 

When  a  supply  of  reasonably  clear  lake  or  river  water 
can  be  had,  the  slow  sand  filter  does  its  work  economical^ 
and  well.  But  many  cities,  particularly  in  the  Middlfr* 
Western  states  of  this  country,  have  no  such  supply  to  draw 
upon;  they  must  take  their  water  from  the  Mississippi, 
Ohio,  Missouri,  or  other  rivers  in  which  the  water  is  very 
turbid  and  muddy  at  certain  seasons  of  the  year.  Cities 
that  have  this  local  problem  to  contend  with  are  likely  to 
find  the  system  of  mechanical  rapid  sand  filtration  better 
adapted  to  their  needs.    This  process  involves,  first  of  aB, 

I  The  Bystem  ia  fuOy  denribed  in  F.  A.  Meyw's  Da*  Wa—nurk  d» 
Frtitn  und  Uant-tadt  Hamburg  (HAmbtuc,  18M).  Then  it  •  britf  aMMOiit 
in  J.  W.  HiU'a  PurifieaHon  ef  PiMie  Waitr  SuppliM  (New  Tork,  1886).  A. 

m. 

*  Tiw  Albany  plant  it  doMsribed  by  AOflo  Hsmd  in  Tranaaetion$  rf  tt* 
Anuriean  Society  tf  CM  gn§inmr$,  im.  344-396  (1900) ;  th*  fVUaM' 
phia  lyrton  in  the  SngutMring  Nnpt,  lii.  144-148  (Augurt  18, 190i) :  od 
the  WMhington  worin  in  TmuueUont  tif  tkt  Amtriean  AoeMy  ef  CM 
Enginmn.  IviL  307-868  (1906). 


Thenpid 
Madfittw. 


WATER  SUPPLY 


140 


a  sedimentatioii  basin  or  set  of  basiiu,  in  which  the  water  is 
allowed  to  rest  until  much  of  the  suspended  matter  subsides. 
If  it  is  desired  to  hasten  the  subsidence,  such  chemicals  as 
sulphate  of  iron  or  aluminum  salts  may  be  used  to  pro- 
mote coagulation.     When  used  in   the   small  quantities 
required,  these  chemicals  do  not  affect  the  taste  of  water. 
From  the  basins  the  water  is  run  into  rapid  filter  beds,  which 
differ  from  the  slow  filters  chiefly  in  three  ways :  (1)  in  the 
rapid  filters  a  much  coarser  grade  of  sand  is  used ;  (2)  tho 
water  is  passed  through  the  filter  more  rapidly ;   and  (3) 
the  bed,  when  its  surface  becomes  clogged,  is  cleaned  by 
sending  a  reverse  flow  of  water,  under  pressure  or  accompanied 
with  air,  to  clear  the  sand  and  wash  off  the  sediment,  rather 
than  by  scraping  off  the  surface  layer.  As  the  sedimentation 
basins  and  rapid  sand  filters  can  be  counted  upon  to  remove 
from  turbid  wate;  practically  all  suspended  matter  and 
about  99  per  cent  of  the  noxious  organisms,  this  system 
makes  a  water  supply  reasonably  pure  and  satisfactory. 
The  capacity  of  a  rapid  sand  filter  is  about  one  hundred 
and  twenty  miUion  gallons  per  acre  daily,  or  about  forty  B«i*tHw 
times  the  output  of  a  slow  filter.    The  initial  cost,  includ-  S^"**** 
ing  sedimentation  basins,  is  reckoned  to  be,  under  normal 
conditions,  about  twelve  thousand  dollars  for  every  million 
gallons  of  daily  capacity  as  compared  with  about  twenty 
thousand  dollars   in  the  case    of   the   slow  sand  filter. 
This,  added  to  the  cost  of   operation,  which  commonfy 
ranges  from  four  to  six  doUars  per  million  gallons,  makes 
the  entire  cost   per  million  gallons  (when  one  includes 
interest,  depreciation,  repairs,  and  operation)  about  ten 
dollars,  or  substantially  the  same  as  when  the  slow  sand 
process  is  used.    One  system  is  more  expensive  to  install 
but  cheaper  to  operate ;   the  other  costs  less  to  install  but 
more  to  keep  going.    Between  the  results  of  these  two  plans 
of  filtration,  indeed,  there  u  little  difference.    The  char- 
acter of  the  raw  water  determines  the  relative  costs,  and 
hence,  as  a  rule,  determines  l^e  selection.     The  choice,  it 


150     PP^CIPLES  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


need  scarcely  be  added,  cannot  be  determined  by  any 
auperficial  examination.  If  it  is  to  be  made  wisely,  thie 
decision  must  in  each  case  be  guided  by  the  qualified  eqtert 
who  has  made  a  thorouj^  study  of  all  the  relevant  local 
conditions. 
The  largest  rapid  sand-filtration  plant  in  the  world  is  that 
RMdMad-  completed  at  Cincinnati  a  half-dosen  years  or  more  ago. 
pUntoin  Here  in  preliminary  sedimentation  reservoirs  of  enormoas 
^'"*'*^  capacity  water  pumped  from  the  Ohio  River  is  allowed  to 
settle  for  three  days  or  more.  Then  it  is  drawn  off  into 
coagulating  basins,  where  it  is  treated  with  sulphate  of 
iron  for  further  clarification.  After  a  few  hoius  in  thoM 
basins  it  is  passed  on  to  the  rapid  sand  filters,  of  whidi 
there  are  twenty-eight,  each  twenty-eij^t  feet  by  fifty  in 
area,  and  each  with  a  capacity  of  about  four  million  gaUou 
daily.  From  these  beds  the  water  flows  to  a  filtered-water 
reservoir  which  feeds  the  city's  mains.^  Columbus  tkn 
has  a  combined  wateiHSoftening  and  rapid-filtration  plant  of 
thirty  million  gallons'  daily  capacity,  and  rapid  sand  filten 
are  in  operati<m  in  many  smaller  Amefkan  cities.  ISxr 
perience  in  these  places  has  shown  beyond  question  that 
this  tjrpe  of  filter  is  caj>able  of  satisfactorily  purifying  sU 
kinds  of  water,  partieidarly  that  wYdck  is  turbid  or  btd^ 
discolored.' 

nrBBOiIBNO  A  WATSB  SUIfliT 

Water  may  be  purified  by  filtratk>n,  but  it  may  also  bs 
nahypo-  rendered  harmless  to  healtii  by  sterilisation:  that  is  to 
tiMtmaat  Say,  it  may  be  treated  in  muii  way  as  to  kill  or  to  attenuate 
ofwKtar.      the  pathogenic  bacilli  ratiier  than  to  diminate  them.    StenK- 


*Ftir  a  furtlier  daHviptka,  n*  tfaa  Bngimtrimg  lUeord, 
(i^^6.ig07).  ThaSilMiipiMittoiMiMr,  batlnaMrt 
Oadaiiati  pbat  itill  Mmaiai  no^uiallwl. 

OMohMiiMd  at  mfid  Mod  tthtm  nay  ba  faond  ia  M.  P.  atrial  V|iir 
Pvrifieation  PlanU  (New  Totk,  1915),  ta,  mora  aoBVootoi^  flgr  Ml* 
rMdm  pwbaps.  in  2^  Awmrimm  C«y,  xiii,  28^287  (fi 


WATIR  BUFPLY 

Mtion  of  public  w»ter  mipplies  is  lugOy  tbe  product  of 
development*  during  the  Uwt  doieu  yean.    The  proocM 
eonnsts  in  treating  the  water  with  hypochlorites  of  lime  or 
floda,   notably  the  former.    Chlorinated  time;   which  ia 
commercially  known  as  bleaching  powr?       4sts  about 
twenty-five  dollars  per  ton  if  bought  in      -  a  quantities. 
When  apptied  to  water  at  the  rate  of  from  kv.    j  ten  pounds 
per  million  gallons,  the  active  chlorine  destroys  a  veiy  large 
percentage  of  the  disease-producing  germs  contained  therein.* 
As  a  rule  it  is  deemed  advisable  to  aUow  a  period  of  contact 
of  at  least  one  hour  before  the  purified  water  is  deUvered  to 
consumers  through  the  city's  mains,  and  it  is  necessary  so 
to  apply  the  chemical  that  the  whole  water  supply  will  be- 
come thoroughly  impregnated.    This  is  done  by  a  simple 
automatic  device  which  is  sUtioned  at  the  intake  and 
supplies  hypochlorite  solution  in  steady  quantities.    With- 
out the  ezerdse  of  great  care,  howevw,  thei«  is  danger  of 
under-  or  overdosing:  too  little  of  the  chemical  leaves 
water  unsteriUaed,  too  much  gives  it  a  taste  and  an  un- 
pleasant smeh.    Liquid  chlorine  gas  is  also  coming  into  use 
as  a  means  of  steiiUsing  water.     It  is  an  dfeetive  sub- 
stitute for  hypochlorite  and  has  some  distinct  advantages 
over  the  latter. 

The   steriUsation  of   water   by  the   use  of  bleadiing 
powder  or  Uquid  chlorine  gas  does  not  of  course  r«move  D-tatarf 
turbidity  or  swampy  tastes  and  odors,    neither   does  it  *^"^ 
soften  water;  but  it  does  destroy  practically  aU  the  ob- 
jectionable bacteria  ordinarily  found  in  an  impure  water 

,'The  prooeM  <rf  de^ootkm  Iim  ben  mooiaottr  *Mtd  aa  faOowt: 
BleMhinc  Powdw  ooaaku  d  tapptaOmaUliy  «qul  ■aooato  of  «Uarid» 
rf  oriomm  .ad  hypoeWorfto  rf  «»ldii^^ 
sJt  nnnrin.  fawt.  wh««w«  tlie  hnwdilorite  of  oriB^ 

effwu  (iM  dMteoetioB  of  bMlKW  m  h,  wMa/^^mimmtTSmS 
»  ..f  '^*  atf^Btad  whan  omm  b  OMd"  (O.  A.  Jobaaoa.  p— '■«-^-  '-'' 


152     PRINCIPLn  (HT  BCUMICIPAL  ADMINIBTIUTION 


■ui^ly.  Moreovw,  H  it  ft  eheap  method  and  one  that  eaa 
be  put  into  service  very  quiekfy.  But  it  is  not  an 
^Icient  substitute  for  filtration.  To  clear  water  of  baeteria 
is  one  thing;  to  sterilise  tiie  bacteria  and  leave  them  in 
it  is  another.  A  wat«r  supply  that  ean  be  rendered 
safe  only  by  a  heavy  dose  of  chemieab  each  day  in  not  an 
idtc^her  satisfactory  supply.  The  propw  time  to  use 
sterilising  methods  is  in  an  raoergoioy.  Whm  a  natural 
water  supply  that  is  normally  pure  lapses  below  the  standard 
for  a  time,  sterilising  solutions  may  be  used  until  the  inte^ 
val  of  duigBr  has  passed ;  or  whm  a  water-filtering  servist 
breaks  down  uneipeetedfy  the  rude  of  an  ^idonic  can 
be  avoided  by  resort  to  sterilising  as  a  temporary  exp^ 
dient.  The  city  that  depends  upon  unfihered  water  may 
well  keesp  such  apparatus  ready  for  connection  at  a  moment's 
notice.  As  a  permanent  method  of  treating  water,  how> 
ever,  the  plan  is  never  recommended  by  watannippfy  es* 
perts  except  when  the  finwiees  of  a  city  are  in  sudi  condition 
as  to  preclude  a  regular  filtration  qrstem.  Hypoehknite 
treatment  is  now  being  used  in  hundreds  of  American  cities 
and  towns,  but  in  many,  if  not  in  most  of  them,  it  ui  mer^ 
an  adjunct  to  storage  and  filtration  systems. 
Undor  some  conditions  the  prolonged  storage  of  water 
Pnrifieatfon  ig  an  effective  method  of  insuring  purity.  The  length  at 
storage  required  will  in  every  case  dc^>end  upon  many 
things,  —  upon  the  amount  of  pollution  b^ore  the  st(»a|i 
begins,  for  «cample,  and  up(m  tlw  nature  of  the  leservoir 
facilities.  When  a  d^s  water  supply  can  be  hOd  ia 
storage  and  fulfy  protected  during  a  period  of  seveni 
months,  the  dangor  from  a  bacteriological  point  of  view 
is  admitted  to  be  voy  small.  Bt<»age,  howevw,  will  not 
always  make  watw  dean.  At  certain  periods  of  the  year 
water  which  has  been  long  held  in  the  reswoir  m  iqrt  to 
show  bad  color,  and  oonnuners  are  Wuiy  to  make  coat 
plMnts  unless  the  diaeotoratimi  is  qmekly  removed. 


bgratonia. 


MiBHilHiiaifliaiaM 


WATIB  SOPPLT 


m 


WAraa  DmBiBumnf 

After  a  MtiifMtoiy  nipply  of  water  M  Moorad,  UMct  eomct 
the  problem  d  distributhm.  Th»  distribution  jriant  in-  Th«abM> 
eludes  aqueducts  and  eonduits,  pumps  and  pumping  stations,  ^ubT 
local  reservoirs  for  equaliaing  the  flow  or  for  stoimge,  water 
mains  under  the  streets,  and  house  eonneetions  for  finalty 
distributing  to  the  eomnimers.  Hie  anaagements,  extent, 
and  cost  of  these  Tarious  fotturee  will  depmd  larg^  upon 
local  conditions,  —  for  esam^,  upon  the  amount  of  water 
required,  the  compaetneas  of  the  area  to  be  served,  the 
nature  of  the  sulnnuf aee  through  whieh  the  mains  must 
pass,  $ad  the  delation  of  the  source  <d  supply  above  this 
arM.  When  thiselevatifm  of  souroe  is  conaid«rable it  often 
becomes  posnble  to  tuppj^  water  under  gravity  piessuie, 
an  advantage  that  eoaUea  the  dty  to  do  without  pumping 
stations  altogether.  For  ordinary  purposes  a  jnessure  of 
from  forty  to  ei|hty  or  even  (Mte  hundred  pounds  per  square 
inch  is  required  at  tilie  street  levd;  for  hif^ressure  fire  hy- 
drants a  much  greater  amount  is  needed.  A  hi^pressuie 
fire-protection  service,  as  will  be  indicated  later,  also  raquiiee 
a  special  pumping  plant  and  mains  of  extra  sfaro^ith.  In 
the  absence  of  a<toquate  gravity  flow,  pfessure  is  obtained 
by  pumping  the  water  to  an  devated  reaervoir,  <»  to  a 
standi»pe,  or  directiy  into  the  distribution  mains,  llxwe 
are  all  sorts  of  pumps,  hi^i-Iift  and  lowJift,  available  for 
this  purpose.  (^  its  meduudeal  ride  the  seienoe  of  pubfie 
water  suppfy  haa  reached  a  voy  high  point  of  develop- 
ment.* 

A  distributing  tytUm  should  be  designed  to  furnish  to 


« In  Mdditibn  to  tiw  s«Mnl  vorin  oa  tmtw  npply  alraidy  mcDtkiiMd 
(WOW,  p.  125),  the  followint  votaaM  oa  wfnuwuly  tatfinmriim  aad 
«nterdbt(ilmtioiiiiujlMiiidiaatodM«HAdfarnlmM«:  A.P.Polirall, 

iJ^  ^•'Si*  ^^"'^  ^•^  ^<»^  >*»)  5  '•  H.  T.  Tonar  Mtd  A.  W. 
2.'?''??^  rotonwrft.  antkmrtm  (M  ed..  New  Yortt.  Itm);  J.  D. 

Hague,  Pnatptef  Mmtimm  far  Wt*$r  Wtrka  (New  Y«rk,  MOT). 


154     PIIIMOir*ilB  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMIMWnUTION 


■ad  dual 


each  eonramer  an  adequate  lupply  at  niffident  prearan, 
with  reasonable  security  against  interruption  or  other 
mishap.  As  a  rule  only  one  set  of  pipes  u  jwovided ;  but 
a  few  cities  have  installed  the  dual  system,  —  that  u  to 
■ay,  one  set  of  pipes  to  eonvey  pure  water  for  drinking  and 
domestic  purposes,  and  another  set  to  cany  unpiuifod 
water  for  commercial  and  public  use.  This  plan  has  been 
resorted  to  only  where  it  happened  to  be  very  rapensive  to 
get  pure  water  for  drinking  purposes.  Paris  affords  a  good 
example,  with  its  double  system  of  pipes  canying  eau  potabit 
and  eau  turn  potable  respectively.  The  dual  system  rests 
on  the  idea  that  it  is  wasteful  to  bring  pure  water  over  kM^ 
distances,  or  to  purify  the  oitire  water  supply  of  a  oom> 
munity,  when  at  least  70  par  cent  of  it  is  used  for  purposes 
that  do  not  reqtiire  purity,  —  as  for  extinguishing  Bim, 
watering  streets,  flu;iihing  ■sewers,  and  so  on.  A  city  of  a 
million  people  needs  each  day  about  a  hundred  miUiai 
gallons  of  water,  but  only  about  thirty  million  gallons  of 
pure  water  at  most.  Tho  cost  of  purifying  the  seven^ 
millions  that  need  not  be  purified  amoimts  to  at  least 
seven  htmdred  dollars  per  day,  or  over  a  quarter  of  a 
million  dollars  per  year.  But,  although  the  dual  jdao 
may  seem  to  have  some  possible  merits  on  the  score  of 
economy  in  eveiy-day  operation,  it  is  obviously  far  mxm 
expensive  to  instoll,  it  gives  rise  to  endless  problems  in 
keeping  the  two  supplies  separate,  and  on  the  whole  it  is 
accounted  neither  safe  nor  satisfactory.  The  expmenee 
of  Paris  has  beoi  that  it  is  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to 
keep  people  from  using  the  eau  non  potable  in  ways  that 
mean  danger  to  public  health,  even  tiiouj^  they  have  to 
go  to  the  street  taps  to  get  it.  It  is  not  that  they  wiU  per' 
sist  in  drinking  the  non-purified  water;  but  they  wffl 
thoughtlessly  use  it  for  rinsing  a  water^pail  or  for  soma 
other  such  purpose  that  involves  peril.  The  ineradicable 
defect  of  the  dual  system  is  that  it  brings  a  disease-Uwko 
commodity  into  every  part  of  the  communis. 


WATn  SOPPLT 


IH 


Th«  dklributing  jrfpct  of  »  pablie  wster^iqiplv  qwttm 
are  utually  nude  of  eail  iron.  Tlik  k  bewiK  of  thi 
moderate  eoct  ot  that  material,  itt  tendb  atraigtii,  Ht 
durability,  and  the  ease  with  whieh  it  eaa  be  moulded  into 
any  desired  form.  It  ia  uaed  in  all  diameten,  from  three  to 
thirtyinxincheaormore.  Guit^ronpipeaareoommonlymado 
in  twelv»*foot  lengths  and  are  jointed  tofethw  with  lead. 
They  are  put  in  jAmoo  below  the  froet  line  and  are  usually 
dipped  in  a  protective  eoating  to  prevent  deteriorati<m. 
Valves  are  set  at  all  neeessaiy  pdnta,  and  hydrant  as  well 
as  house  connections  are  made.  Wroui^t  inm  and  steel 
arc  sometimes  used  for  water  pipes,  and  larfer  conduits 
are  frequently  made  of  concrete.  For  house  connections 
lead  pipes  are  sometimes  onployed,  but  thfiy  do  not  stand 
high  pressures.  The  largest  item  in  the  cost  oi  a  water* 
supply  system  is  usually  the  eipenditure  for  acquiring 
and  placing  conduits  and  pipes,  but  the  average  expense 
per  lineal  foot  in  any  city  is  something  that  must  be 
worked  out  by  experts  on  the  spot.  The  labor  coat  is  a 
large  factor,  and  this,  again,  dq)aids  upon  the  nature  of 
the  excavations  that  have  to  be  made.  Estimates  must 
also  take  into  account  the  number  and  quality  of  the  valvea, 
hydrants,  and  other  accessories  needed  by  tiie  distribution 
system. 

A  serious  problem  connected  with  a  pul^e  watOHliBtribu- 
tion  system  is  that  of  protecting  the  jnpes  against  comNdon 
by  electrolysis.  This  electrical  de<»mposition  of  the  l^pes 
is  caused  mainly  by  the  return  currents  from  deetric  trolleys. 
The  return  current  is  supposed  to  pass  through  tiie  rafls; 
but,  if  these  are  not  property  insulated  or  not  suffidoitfy 
bonded  to  form  a  good  conductor,  a  portion  of  the  currait 
may  leave  the  rails  and  follnw  the  earth  to  tiie  nearest  water 
or  gas  pipes.  Keeping  to  these  i»pes  only  until  it  reaches  a 
better  conductor,  tiie  current  eventually  leaves  the  mains, 
and  in  so  doing  it  sets  up,  in  connection  with  the  salts  of 
the  soil,  a  form  of  electrolytic  corrosion.    Under  favoraUe 


IM     PRIMOIPLIS  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINI8TRATI0M 

eonditioM  thto  eonoikm  k  often  voy  n|>kl;  water  pipM 
and  jcirM  an  lometimw  randand  uaalaia  in  half  a  doan 
yint»,  bat  nidi  action  is  ttMattj  loeaMied  near  the  point 
of  ratum  to  the  power  lUtiaM.*  About  the  onty  etnaK 
idete  remedy  would  be  to  require  that  all  eleetrio  itieet* 
railwiiy  eompaniee  provide  a  douUe  oveihead  tnrfley  igr»> 
'  teni,inelttdingbo^feedw  and  return  wires,  an  arranfemeBl 
that  would  obviate  the  need  of  using  the  rails  as  letum 
eonduotofs.  Sueh  a  plan  has  proved  very  satiafaetoiy  ta 
Washington.  A  partial  remedy  takes  the  form  of  bondiag 
rails,  or  making  low^resistanoe  connections  at  points  b»> 
tween  rails  and  pipes  and  betwem  p^pes  and  qMdal  retuin 
wires. 

WATIR  BATM 

There  are  three  plans  under  which  water  may  be  paid  for 
latoef  by  ccmsumeie.  The  first  is  the  so-v^ed  flat-rate  qreten, 
by  which  each  user  pays  a  definite  sum  per  year  w  per 
quarter,  irrespective  of  the  exact  amount  of  water  used. 
This  sum  may  be  fixed  acc<nding  to  the  assessed  vaiiie  of 
the  user's  premises,  or  to  the  number  of  rooms  or  tiie  maim 
of  tape,  or  on  some  other  basb  which  may  be  taken  as  nm^fy 
indicative  of  consumption.  Until  about  twenty-^ve  yean 
ago  this  plan  was  followed  almost  everywhere,  but  it  is 
now  reined  as  obsdete,  unfair,  and  unbunneaslike.  Tlis 
second  plan  is  commonly  known  as  the  meter  system,  under 
which  the  supply  of  each  consumer  is  controlled  by  a  sepa> 
rate  meter  or  measuring  device  and  bis  payment  for  water  is 
determined  by  the  exact  amount  that  he  uses.  Altiiou^ 
there  are  in  some  cities  fixed^tite  meter  schedules,  with  s 
imiform  charge  for  each  unit  of  water  used,  in  most  cases 
the  scale  of  meter  charges  is  graded  —  that  is,  a  sma&r 
rate  per  unit  is  charged  whea  lai^  qumtitles  of  water  an 

>  Vat  mnoB  detafls  and  flgarw,  Me  the  eevoi^-iiece  report  ob  WwMt 
m  af  WaUr  Pip-  in  tiu  Citt  af  Ckkmt*,  iMoed  by  the  CMeege  Dm— ■  << 
Publie  EfMMW/.  BvOMn,  No.  4  (1911). 


WATn  lomiT 


Iff 


ooDiiiixMd.  A  tUid  plui,  Bkhragr  bctuNMS  ^mm  two,  is 
to  eh*r|e  tht  euitonir  »  flat  me  for  a  ««taia  ttrrioo  (m, 
for  eiuBpto,  for  a  flTe-«i|M»-of-u-iM^  f^  oouieetwl 
with  the  Hieet  main),  end  then  to  reqaiie  en  eddHional 
lum  in  eeeoRUnee  with  the  emouBt  of  wiMrneed  ee ilMwii 
by  the  houie  meter.  In  mne  other  eeaee  •  flat  ehaife  ii 
made  im  a  oertain  maximum  uee,  and  for  lA  water  eoa- 
m.-iption  in  eseeae  of  tUe  aUowanee  estm  pagrmeote  are 

exacted. 
The  lyetem  of  leDinf  water  by  meter  hM  iweral  obrJone 

adventagee.    In  the  firat  plaee,  it  ie  the  only  fair  way  to  ^^_ 
di^MMO  of  thii  pabBe  oommodity.    All  other  methoda  inr  «ir4» 
voire  eiMMmente  that  are  arbitmiy  al  beet>  and  henoe  aio 
likely  to  reeutt  in  an  unfair  distifimtitmt^  the  ooet.    Again, 
the  meter  eyetem,  with  a  properly  graded  aehedide  of 
ehargee,prevente  waste  and  ne^igsn?*,  •  mMit  which  eaneea 
it  to  be  approved  by  practically  all  who  have  made  a  awi- 
mu  study  of  wateiHMp|dy  praUens.    On  the  other  hand, 
iut-«er8  are  elinoet  sure  to  beomne  inacoorate  imlem  wil- 
fully t(wt« ..'  and  oonstanf!,'  looked  alter.    In  any  eaae  thefe 
will  inev)    v*    Sc  a  oertiM'^i  amount  of  "aiip,"  or  unrecorded 
passage  c  v.f,«. ,  .hroiH^  even  the  beet  of  metae,  ami  thie 
slip  inereni  ^  ^.n  t;  e  aiq[dianeee  remain  longer  in  uie.    To 
install  mete.v  ibr  >u^Mmt  a  laqpe  city  iUao  invohree  a  heavy 
eqiense.    There  are  a  doiea  diflf^'.'cnt  kiude,  ranging  in 
price  fnnn  five  to  nine  doUari  for  wu?  (»dinary  houeehdd 
sise,  to  many  timee  as  much  for  the  larger  typee  suitable 
for  use  in  stores,  ftietories,  and  other  meroantile  buildinp. 
Citieii  find  the  ;  verage  initial  eqwose  of  a  meter  to  be 
about  ten  dollaro,  besidee  the  cost  of  installing  it,  which  is  at 
least  three  to  five  doBArs  more.    If  <me  may  f «i|y  redcon 
on  the  need  of  at  least  cme  meter  for  evny  seven  or  ei|^ 
persons  in  the  d^s  population,  it  can  readify  be  seen  that 
to  meter  the  whi^  aervicse    .  a  dty  the  aise  oi  Boston  would 
require  an  expenditure  ci  a  million  Mod  a  half  ddlars,  not 
to  Bjpeak  of  the  large  annitsl  ooet  of  inspectii^  and  reading 


158     PRIMCIPLBS  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


a 

53 


OfaiMtkmi 
to  the  meter 
ffjnteiB. 


,f 


these  meters  at  frequent  intervals.*  All  these  outlajrs, 
however,  are  more  than  o£fset  by  the  reduction  in  water 
waste  which  is  accomplished  by  Uie  use  of  meters. 

It  has  been  iu|^,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the  genoral 
installation  of  meters  is  sure  to  reduce  the  consumption  of 
water  for  sanitaiy  purposes  in  the  poorer  sections  of  the 
city.  Students  of  social  problems  lay  stress  on  this  point : 
they  tell  us  that  "water  should  be  as  free  as  air."  Although 
the  ofiBciak  of  the  water  department  are  prone  to  scoff  at 
all  such  notions  as  nonsense,  the  figures  prove  very  cleaiijr 
that  under  a  metered  i^stem  much  less  water  is  used  in 
the  homes  of  the  poor  than  in  those  of  the  well-to-do.' 
The  actual  experience  of  cities  in  which  charges  are  prop- 
eriy  graded,  however,  does  not  at  all  indicate  that  the 
metered  service  actually  promotes  unsanitary  conditions 
in  the  por>rer  districts.  The  use  of  water  would  have  to 
be  greatly  iostricted  before  that  point  would  be  reached. 
Various  otL  bjections  to  the  use  of  meters  (that  thejr 
collect  dirt  and  so  pollute  the  water  which  passes  throu^^ 
them,  for  example)  have  no  basis  whatever  in  fact.  IIm 
only  real  objection  to  the  meter  system  —  that  it  is  lik^ 
to  bear  heavily  on  the  small  consumer  —  is  obviated  by 
the  u^  of  a  schedule  which  makes  a  moderate  minimum 
charge  .or  what  ou|^t  to  be  enou|^  water  to  supply  i^ 
reasonable  domestic  needs,  and  adds  a  graded  charge  p« 
hundred  cubic  feet  for  all  water  used  in  excess  of  this  amotmt.' 
It  is  quite  true  that  a  popular  prejudice  against  the  meter 
system  exists  in  many  cities  of  the  country,  but  much  nf 
this  feeling  arises  from  the  crude  and  unscientific  methods 


>  The  beat  brief  diamuiioiui  of  thU  mftttor  an  two  artiekw  by  E.  W. 
on  "The  PurobMe.  Settinc,  and  Teatiat  of  Water  Meters,"  in  the  <iift- 
itMring  Reeord,  bdU.  351-253  (Marah 4, 1911),  aad  "The  OwiMmhip,  Cnt, 
B»p»it,  and  Readinc  of  Meters,"  Urid.,  841-843  (Manh  35, 1911). 

■Cf.  above,  p.  136. 

*  Hie  Heim  lUding^oale,  devised  a  deoade  at  more  ago  by  John  B.  Hsia 
of  Madison,  Wisoonain,  is  the  one  most  common^  used.  It  is  deswibed 
in  his  article  on  "Meter  Rates,"  in  Proetedingt  </  tk$  AmtHeom  Wttm 
Warkt  AMoeiatim.  ndv.  251-267  (1904). 


WATIR  SUPPLY 


U» 


that  many  watw  departments  have  pursued  in  fixing  their 
water-rate  charges.  Schedules  of  rates  are  nowadays  being 
much  more  carefiilly  worked  out,  however,  and  the  advan- 
tages of  the  measured  service  are  steadily  becoming  more 
widely  recognised.* 

WATBBrBUPPLT  FINANCl 

The  amount  of  mon^  invested  in  waternsupply  plants 
throu^out  the  United  States  is  probably  in  excess  of  a  ^^ 
billion  dollars,  and  it  goes  on  increasing  at  the  rate  of  at  npp^. 
least  fifty  millions  a  year.  In  the  case  of  plants  owned  by 
municipaUties  most  of  this  mon^  has  been  borrowed ;  the 
usual  plan  has  been  to  issue  long-term  bonds  and  to  provide 
a  sinking  fund  for  their  redemption  at  maturity.  The 
public  water-supply  system  has  been  generally  looked  upon 
as  a  mtmioipal  enterprise  which  ought  to  be  at  least  self^ 
supporting,  besides  contributing  something,  perhaps,  to 
the  city's  general  funds  either  by  surplus  earnings  or  by 
supplying  free  water  for  the  fire-protection  service  and  for 
public  buildings.  The  water  rates  have  been  expected  to 
provide  an  annual  income  sufficient  to  covo*  interest  on 
the  bonds,  contributions  to  the  nnldng  fimd  or  a  yearly 
allowance  for  depreciation,  all  costs  of  operation  including 
salaries,  cost  of  pumping,  maintAuuiee  of  mains,  etc.,  like- 
wise some  part  of  the  eost  of  extensions  when  possible,  as 
well  as  all  ordinary  renewals  of  the  plant,  —  and  still  to 
have  a  little  to  spare.  It  has  not  been  customary  to  charge 
the  plant  with  any  sums  in  lieu  of  taxes ;  on  the  other  hand, 
the  municipality  has  not  ordinarily  credited  the  water 
departmnnt  with  ui  allowance  for  free  service  givm  to  the 
fire,  street,  or  park  departmmt.  When  the  city  has  an 
equity  in  the  plant,  that  is  to  say,  when  the  value  of  the 

>  Thwe  hM  been  a  gnmi  6mA  at  pfoAtaU*  diMwrion  devoted  to  ti^ 
matter  by  ncolktiiw  authorittea.  See,  for  esample,  tho  Opimhiu  ami 
Deeiriotu  tif  Ot*  Witotmain  AsOrMd  Ctmmiitim  (MacUsoH.  1916).  siv.  i-76. 
•odpoMiai. 


MIMHIiiMililliM 


160     PRINCIPLES  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


IMMtain 

wmttr- 

Mwiy 


FliMiieial 

KfOIIUS 


plant  is  greater  than  the  amount  of  indebtedness  outstaad' 
ing  against  it,  the  municipal  treasury  has  not  expected  an; 
return  —  any  dividend,  so  to  speak  —  on  the  estimated 
value  of  this  equity. 

Such  are  the  general  principles  that  are  supposed  to  be 
recognised  in  water-supply  finance.  As  a  matter  of  actual 
practl^,  however,  th«re  have  been  great  departtures  from 
them,  and  with  serious  results.  These  lapses  from  sound 
financial  practice  have  been  of  wide  variety,  but  only  a 
few  can  be  mentioned  here.  Many  cities,  for  examine, 
have  built  water  systems  in  such  an  extravagant  manner 
that  the  fixed  charges  in  way  ci  interest  and  sinking»fund 
payments  have  proved  a  heavy  burden  on  the  annual  ii^ 
come.  Others  have  built  so  inadequately  that  they  have 
had  to  duplicate  or  replace  parts  of  the  plant  before  the 
original  cost  had  beoa  paid.  Others,  again,  have  spread 
the  water  bonds  over  too  long  a  term  of  yean,  or  have 
failed  to  make  adequate  contributions  to  the  sinking  funds, 
or  have  made  too  small  an  annual  allowance  for  depreda^ 
tion.  There  is  hardly  a  municipal  water  plant  in  tlM 
United  States  that  has  not,  at  one  time  or  another,  af- 
forded some  apt  illustrations  of  bad  financing.* 

Although  every  city  has  its  own  peculiar  probk  i  d 
water-supply  financing,  there  are  some  broad  prindi^ 
which  aU  municipalities  may  be  urged  to  follow.  In  the 
first  place,  funcb  for  the  construc^n  of  a  water-supp^ 
(dant,  and  {nrobaU^  for  extensions  iJto,  riiould  be  obtaiiwd 
l^  the  issue  of  aeiriai  Ixmds  and  not  by  means  of  bcmb 
payable  out  of  mnking  fimds.  In  all  branches  of  puUie 
borrowing,  indeed,  as  will  be  shown  lator,  the  SMial-bond 
plan  is  to  be  prefwred.'    Tliere  is  stMMthing  to  be  said,  m 

>  Data  in  mpport  at  tUa  MHrtkm  wBl  be  foaad,  for  anaid*,  ia  tt» 
NaOony  Civte  radmyon'i  RtpoH  «n  Munieijml  t»d  Private  OmmtUm 
ai  PubUe  UHiMei  (3  vi^..  New  YaA,  ItB?),  pt.  tt,  v^A.  i.  8S8-4attr«taN 
tile  remlu  oT  an  invfuKipiriea  ta«e  Mm  wa/t^K-mppfy  flaanoe  of  ~  ' 
Clevdaad,  and  otber  eMM  we  ihraa.  Sea  abo  B«rtoa  llaaBee 
ricm.  BfiMrte,  iii.  5-8l«  (It0»).  *  •»•  htkem,  pp.  471-474. 


Hi 


WATIR  SUPPLY 


ni 


the  case  of  water-supply  bonds,  for  having  the  first  serials 
mature  five  or  more  yean  after  the  loan  is  made,  that  is 
to  say,  when  the  plant  begins  to  yield  its  full  revenue; 
but  the  last  bonds  in  the  series  should  mature  within  the 
estimated  life  of  the  plant,  and,  if  there  is  any  doubt  on 
this  point,  the  bond  and  not  the  plant  should  have  the 
benefit  of  it.  When  this  is  do  e,  allowances  for  depre- 
ciation need  not  be  provided ;  for  it  is  hardly  fair  to  ask 
one  generation  of  users  not  only  to  pay  the  initial  cost  <tf 
the  works,  but  to  maintain  a  fund  for  thdr  ieconste«etion 
as  weU.  But  if  depreciation  allowances  are  provided  fm, 
t>  ese  ought,  in  the  absence  of  a  sinking  fund,  to  be  calcubted 
on  the  aggrq^te  first  cost  of  the  ^aut,  not  upon  its  esti- 
^nated  current  value.  Since  the  methods  fay  which  tliis 
depreciation  allowance  diooM  be  recbmed  have  been 
worked  out  carefully  by  e]q>erts  of  hi|^  i^mte,  no  eity 
need  now  make  mistakes  in  seeh  mattos.'  Saeradfy,  or- 
dinary renewals  and  rq>laoementB  ought  to  be  {Mid  for  out 
of  income ;  the  question  as  to  what  is  i»operty  a  current 
and  what  properiy  a  ci^tal  eip«iditure  under  tiiis  head  is 
one  that  can  always  be  settled  l^  nfwaice  to  Ae  practira 
of  well-organised  buaiiMss  eonewos.  A^ua,  the  water  de- 
partment should  be  taxed  as  if  it  were  a  private  eoipwation ; 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  ot^or  dty  departnotts  that  use 
water  shouki  be  made  to  pay  for  it  at  tihe  same  rate  as  that 
charged  to  large  private  consumers.*  Finally,  if  there  is 
any  equity  in  the  plant,  a  reasonable  return  upon  it  diould 
also  be  provided  out  of  the  annual  income.  Money  to 
pay  for  all  tiiese  tilings  —  namdy,  interest,  repayments, 
ordinaiy  renewals,  taxes,  and  all  annual  expenses  of  man- 
•  ^J^°«**^  MttetU,  "DeiinoUtioD  ia  Watarworb  Opmtkm  tad 

p^443~«63  (DwMmlNr,  1910);   alao  HiirT^y  &  ChM.  "DMndateii 
'i.^^SS^S!'^'*f*™»*^  ***•»  ■«»«»"  R«i«o«  to  Uniform  Reporta  ' 

'Methods  oT  dataraiiBiaff  the  proper  chMfM  to  be  made  afainat  the 
s»  de^ment.  for  iutaaee.  ara  aet  forth  ia  IVoeMiliift  c^  like  Ammitm 
Waitr  Work*  A-oeiatim  (1911),  pp.  55-l«). 

H 


1^     PRINCIPLBB  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


WaUr- 
Mppty 
Moountiiic. 


agement  and  operation  (including  any  engineering  or  legil 
services  rendered  by  any  other  municipal  department)  — 
ought  to  be  obtained  by  the  sale  of  water,  and  in  no  other 
way.  The  income  should  be  sufficient  to  pay  for  all  this, 
and  no  more.  To  provide  for  extensions  out  of  current 
income  is  about  as  unfair,  althou|^  not  as  disastrous,  as  to 
pay  costs  of  operation  by  borrowing.  The  water  service 
should  be  regarded  neither  as  a  profit-making  enterprise 
nor  as  an  eleemosynary  branch  of  city  administration.  It 
should  pay  its  own  way,  but  it  should  not  be  asked  to 
lessen  the  burden  of  the  general  taxpayer. 

These  principles  are  of  course  easier  to  set  forth  than  to 
apply,  but  most  of  the  difficulties  in  carrying  them  out  caa 
be  removed  by  an  efficient  sy*teni  of  water-department 
accounting.  Defective  accounting  methods  are,  in  fact, 
responsible  for  more  of  the  trouble  in  this  department 
than  is  financial  trickery  or  dishonesty.  The  task  of  de- 
vising a  proper  accounting  S3rstem  for  this,  as  well  as  for 
other  branches  of  city  administration,  is  one  which  has  re- 
ceived so  much  attention  during  the  last  dosen  3rean  that 
there  is  to-day  no  good  reason  why  any  municipality  AxfiM 
continue  to  use  unsatisfactory  book-keeping  methods.* 
To  install  a  modem  plan  of  water  aoootmting  costs  some* 
thing  at  the  outset,  but  it  is  one  of  the  best  investmmts  that 
a  city  can  make.  Along  with  sound  methods  of  aeooual> 
ing  and  finance  should  go  a  sdentific  handling  of  the  water- 
rates  schedule ;  but  it  should  be  remembered  that,  uiukr 
ihe  scheme  of  rates  now  in  vogue  in  many  Amwican  dtief^ 
sound  financial  methods  can  be  brou^t  into  operatira 
only  after  a  gmeral  increase  in  the  rates  charged  for  water 
has  been  made.  The  average  citisoi,  knowing  and  cariog 
less  about  the  finance  than  about  the  rates,  is  aeoordin^ 


■  The  Unitad  Stotes  Bonan  of  ths  Cennu  hM  imanA  a  paMMktt 
titktd  Uniform  AtxounUfar  atft*mt  ^  WaUr  Supply  (WaAiactoa.  1911). 
The  forou  in  thU  bultetin  mn  daviwd  by  Um  Canrai  Banw  ia 
wHh  nprawntativM  of  the  Araariflaa  Watar  Works 
Ameriean  Anooiation  of  Publia  AaeoontaaU,  and  otter 


WATKR  SUPPLY 


Its 


in  favor  of  letting  things  alone.  This  is  ao  unfortunate 
situation  which  must  inevitably  lead  to  costly  results. 
An  entire  revision  of  their  water-rates  schedules  is  what 
many  cities  need ;  and  the  results  in  the  way  of  increased 
income  through  the  removal  of  many  q>ecial  privil^es 
which  now  put  an  unfair  biurden  on  the  small  consumer  of 
water  would  almost  certainly  be  worth  while. 


MUNICIPAL  AND  PBIVATB  0WN1»I8HIP  OF  THE  WAIVH 

SERVICB 

The  eariiest  water  pl:,uts  in  Amoican  cities  and  towns 
were  privately  owned;  of  the  sixteen  that  had  been  !^***f, 
established  in  1800  only  one  belonged  to  the  municipality. 
Gradually  public  ownership  began  to  make  headway,  but 
it  was  not  till  about  1875  that  more  than  half  the  wator 
plants  of  the  country  had  come  into  this  category.  Then 
there  was  a  reaction.  The  percentage  of  private  plants 
now  rose  steadily  again,  till  in  1890  it  stood  at  about  60  per 
cent,  only  to  be  followed  shortly  by  a  swing  of  the  pendulum 
in  the  other  direction.  An  overwhelming  majority  of  the 
water  plants  are  now  in  municipal  hands.* 

Like  any  other  public  utility,  a  water«ipply  system  must, 
when  privately  owned,  secure  a  franchise  in  order  to  use  Hm 
streets  or  other  mimicipal  property.  Srieh  franchises  wwe 
granted  very  freely  during  the  li^(er  portion  of  the  nine- 
teenth century ;  thqr  were  giv«i  for  long  terms,  and  carried 
valuable  privil^(es  for  which  the  city  treasury  seldom  got 
any  direct  compeasatioa.  Since  the  companies  operating 
under  them  usuaUy  charged  high  rates  for  water  supplied 
both  to  the  city  itself  and  to  the  citisens,  they  fre- 
quently made  good  profits  and  their  franchises  became 
valuable,  thou^  not  \7orth  so  much,  on  the  whole,  as  the 
gas  and  electric  franchises  of  the  same  period.     Ordinarily 

■  Ahbtorioal  dnleh  of  watenrarti  davakiiHauat,  by  M.  N.  Baktr.maar 
be  touad  in  E.  W.  Bemb'a  Mtmwipal  MeiMpoNw  (New  Twk.  UfW).  shTL 


164     PRINCIPLIB  or  IfUNKIPAL  ADMINI8TaATIOII 


Them 
(rity  of  pub- 
lic owner- 
■hip. 


they  were  well  managed,  but  so  obviously  in  the  int««rt 
of  their  own  stoekhoklen  tiiat  there  arose  a  viforow 
demand  in  some  cities  for  a  curbing  of  frandiise  priiilnflsi 
and  in  others  f«r  a  wunie^aliaation  of  the  service.  The 
result  is  that  the  f randiises  gtaited  during  the  kit  two  or 
tiiree  decades  have  bean  nu^  stricter  in  their  piovisiaas 
than  those  given  in  eaiiier  periods.  At  best,  howwer,  a 
irater  franchise  must  oonv^  large  powors,  otherwise  a 
company  operating  under  it  caiuu}t  fulty  meet  the  city's 
needs  in  the  way  of  an  adequate  and  pan  mxjpfiy.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  is  well  to  remendt>er  tiurt  the  dwnand  fw 
water  is  a  demand  for  an  abeehite  ni.iiii—ii>ij,  wfaefeas  the 
supply  is  in  the  nature  of  thii^p  a  monopdy.  Large  frsi- 
chise  powers  must  therefore  be  aoeoiiq>anied  by  firm  rnetiii 
tions  designed  to  make  sure  that  this  univeieal  nDrcwsilji  sf 
daily  life  shall  not  be  supplied  to  tiie  public  under  oa&mm 
conditions.  Much  has  been  written  about  what  a 
franchise  ought  to  contain,  what  powers  it  should 
and  what  restrictions  it  should  impose ;  but  these 

are  hardly  worth  discussion  here,  for  the  dagr  of  tW 

franchise  is  rapidly  drawing  to  a  dose.*  Tke  watarHRqpftfy 
system,  in  the  judgment  of  those  best  qualified  to  give  an 
impartial  opinion,  ought  to  be  owned  and  operated  at » 
municipal  enterprise.' 

Public  ownership  and  (^sratami  of  the  wateiHnipfiJ^ 
system  are  demanded  by  two  or  three  considerations  that 
do  not  apply  to  utilities  like  li^ih^  plants  or  street  rail* 
wajw.  In  the  first  place,  the  wster  supply,  in  point  of 
adequacy  and  purity,  has  a  direift  bearing  upon  the  pabBa 

>See,  for  example,  D.  F.  W^umc,  Muniieipti  Franekiau  (2  voli.,  N«ir 
York,  1910-1911),  vol.  i,  eh.  x». 

*  "  We  ure  of  the  opinion  tlwt »  put^  u^Ky  whioh  oonoariM  th«  hmMk 
of  the  oitizena  should  not  be  Mt  to  mdividmrito,  wlMra  the  temirtstiM  d 
profit  micht  produce  diaastroua  reaulti.  Mid  tiMnfon  it  is  oar  JmiWim* 
that  undertakitii;8  in  whioh  the  Msitaiy  cfiofhn  laigely  Mitwi  iJiiiill 
be  operated  by  the  pubBe."  —  National  Civic  FaDsmanoii,  Btput  m 
Municipal  and  PrvxOt  Optratim  ef  PvhUc  VHUttu  &  vob.,  N«v  TsA 
1907),  pt.  i,  vol.  i.  23. 


iUHfll 


WATBB  SDFPLT 


165 


health.    How  doM  is  the  reUtion  between  water  supply 
and  the  tjrphoid  deatb^ate  has  already  been  shown.*    No 
dty  Mn  properly  be  asked  to  leave  the  control  of  its  death- 
rate  in  the  hands  of  a  profit-seeking  company,  however 
well  managed  suA  oompany  may  be.    In  the  second  place, 
there  are  some  dty  dq>artments  that  depend  heavity  upon 
the  water  systOTi  for  th«r  own  effidency.    ITie  fire  depart- 
ment is  the  best  example :  the  dty's  entire  investment  in 
fire-fii^tii^;  i^paratus  would  go  for  naught  if  the  water 
supply  shouM  fail  in  an  emergni^.    The  paric  dq>art- 
ment,    the   8tree(^«prinkling   service,    the   sewwr-deaning 
division,  and  masy  other  brandies  of  munidpal  adminis- 
tration we  all  laqie  oustoman  tor  water  suppty,  and  their 
interests  demand  that  watw  shall  be  plentiful  uid  cheap. 
Finally,  it  must  be  remranbered  that  the  community  has 
heavy  economic  and  social  interests  that  may  be  adversdy 
affected  by  a  private  water  company's  rate-making  policy. 
One  method  of  charging  for  wat«r  may  encoiuage  the  com- 
ing of  new  in<kistries ;  another  method  may  he^  to  drive 
industries  away.    One  plan  may  deto-  the  owners  ot  crowded 
tenements  from  putting  in  proper  sanitary  ammgements; 
another  schedule  of  water  rates  may  encourage  them  to  do  so. 
Tlie  sale  of  water  with  m  eye  to  the  profits  only  is  something 
*^eb  no  wdl-admirietesed  municipality  ought  to  tolerate. 
It  may  therefore  be  ftwiy  ui^  that  among  public  util- 
ities the  wateiHNipi^  83r8tem  stands  in  a  class  by  itself. 
The  argummts  usually  actvaneed  fwr  or  against  munidpal 
ownership  of  pubUc  utilities  are  not  the  ones  to  be  used 
when  the  question  of  wat«  su^^  is  under  discusuon. 
The  ease  for  munidpal  owaeiship  and  operation  of  the 
water  service  may  be  raaiSy  establidied  upon  other  than 
purely   econmnic   groui^    0»e   may   very   (Kmdstently 
argue  for  puUic  ownership  ef  the  waterworks,  and  yet  be 
strongly  opposed  to  the  wmtdpalisstion  of  tdephonas  or 
street  railways.    Himw  ase  eompdli^  feascMM  for  the 


»Cf. 


1. 9.  Mi. 


Its     PUNClPm  Of  MUNICIPAL  ADMIMVnUlTION 


Wl^tWM 


<Hie  whUti  do  not  vpffy  to  the  others.  Whm  m  pubiit 
utility  immediatdy  ooncenii  the  health  of  dtiiou  w 
the  im)teotioii  of  their  property,  when  the  temptatira  to 
make  hi^  profits  is  liaUe  to  miliUte  against  the  best 
economio  or  soeial  inlitnts  ol  the  e<»ununity, — wfan 
these  factors  appear,  the  only  safe  and  satisfaetoiy  oouiss 
is  direct  muni^pal  operation. 

Notwithstanding  all  that  may  be  said  about  eztravaganos 
aiul  bad  finandng  in  puUio  water  dqtartments,  or  about 
the  economic  inefficiency  of  the  dty  in  comparison  with 
the  private  buan«N  eonosm,  the  fact  remains  that  water 
is  supplied  by  our  cities  at  a  rate  which  makes  it  by  aD 
odds  the  cheapest  form  of  tangible  merchandise.  Wate^ 
wotkM  receipts  in  America  ayerage  about  two  dollars  and 
a  half  per  capita  each  year.  Reckoned  on  the  usual  esti- 
mate of  daily  eonsumptifm,  this  means  that  the  dtiaen 
has  water  delivered  for  him  at  the  rate  of  about  one  cent  da 
every  one  htmdred  and  f or^  pillons.  Thoe  is  nothing  in 
the  way  of  merchandise  that  he  gets  more  cheaply  than  that 
nowadays.  Let  it  be  repeated  that  the  water  which  comei 
from  the  housdidd  t^9  is  a  manufactured  and  delivflfed 
commodity.  The  price  n^idi  the  wmsumw  pays  k  «► 
timated  to  cover  both  tin  oost  of  purifying  the  water  sad 
the  expauiB  of  transporti^  it  over  maiqr  miles  at  tenitoqr* 
Water  is  "free  as  air/'  to  be  sure,  but  only  i^en  one  is 
content  to  take  water  d  ii^sdm'  or  doubtful  quality  and  is 

willing  to  serve  as  his  own  iiiimii oanrier.    Calculated  is 

terms  per  thousand  cubic  fast,  the  cort  of  purifying  and 
ddivering  water  is  about  <»e  half  the  cost  of  manuf aetarhig 
and  distributing  illuminating  gas;  yet  the  company  thiA 
sells  gas  at  eif^ty  ofmte  per  thousand  cubic  feet  is  likt^jr 
to  make  more  profit  than  the  dty  when  it  sdls  water  at  the 
same  rate.  If  we  would  only  look  at  the  matter  in  Htk 
light,  remembering  that  wator  is  not  onfy  merchandise  but 
vahiabie  merchandise,  our  annual  wastage  would  dtrabtiiai 
be  greatfy  reduced. 


CHAPTER  V 


Sanitation  is  one  of  the  oldest  tad  »t  the  ■une  time  one 
of  the  youngest  suMniff  municipal  enterinribes.  Seavaafing 
in  some  erode  fonn  is  as  old  m  tlM  eaitiest  communities  of 
men;  but  leientifie  seavenging,  which  is  a  considerable 
part  of  public  sanitation,  is  large^  the  product  oi  our  own 
times.  In  a  word,  it  is  the  sdenoe  <rf  removing  all  objeo- 
tionable  wastes  in  the  most  effective  and  economical  way. 
For  many  centuries  thoe  woe  thoughtful  men  who  su»* 
pected  a  connection  between  filth  and  Qudemics,  but  they 
knew  nothing  about  the  transmission  of  infection  by  the 
living  organisms  that  thrive  in  filtii.  It  is  this  Imoi^ 
edge  that  forms  the  very  foundation  of  modem  sanitary 
■denee,  and  its  applicati<ms  are  steadily  eottending.  It 
has  revolutionised  our  ideas  and  methods  throuf^ottt 
the  whole  field  of  municipal  waste  removal.  It  has 
caused  us  to  look  upon  public  cleanliness  m  tiie  hand- 
maid of  public  health.  But  sanitation  is  not  morefy  a  healtii 
enterprise.  If  it  wen  this  alone,  we  mig^t  save  much  of 
the  effort  which  is  now  put  forth  to  insure  the  pronqpft  i«> 
moval  of  many  wastes  that  are  in  no  way  a  mmace  to  our 
physical  wdl-being,  —  sudh  as  adies,  for  example.  Sanitar 
tion  is  also  an  undertaking  in  the  interest  of  public  conven- 
ience and  orderiineae ;  and,  as  there  seem  to  be  no  limits  to 
what  the  dtisen  desires  from  the  community  in  these  par- 
ticulars, the  science  of  sanitatitm  is  ever  broadening  its 
scope  and  bettering  its  methods.* 


>  An  conaedingly  resdabk  srtMs  on  "Th*  ArosdMiac  Beiiw  of  I 

totioB,"  by  Pra(«Mr  a.  O.  WUppb,  nv  b*  tooad  fai  tte  4dM«e  IfMlk^k 
eiiii.  oaiHMl  (Magr.  1914). 


148     PRINCIPLIS  OF  MUNICIPAL  AOMnnvnUTION 


Tkacttir'* 


of 

(•)mIm 

WrabUdi 

W 


Few  realise  how  mueh  wtfte  of  «veiy  tort  •  grMt  oom- 
munity  throws  off  each  day  in  the  year.  Countiiig  eveiy* 
thing,  ashes,  rubbish,  street  refu^^e,  garbage,  and  sewage, 
^e  amount  probably  exeeeds  a  ton  for  eveiy  head  of  popy* 
lation,  or  nearly  a  million  tons  a  day  for  a  city  like  Boston. 
A  large  part  of  this  goes  throuf^  the  sewers,  it  is  true,  but 
much  of  it  must  be  actually  gathered  up  and  carried  away, 
the  streets,  industries,  shops,  and  dwellings  all  contributing 
thdr  share  in  great  variety.  It  is  not  altogether  eaqr  to 
dassify  these  wastes  for  all  communities ;  yet  some  grouping 
is  essential  b^ore  any  general  principles  of  collection  and 
disposal  can  be  formulated.  One  difficulty  is  that  the  same 
word  may  mean  entirdy  different  things  in  various  parts  of 
the  country.  In  the  pqiular  mind  such  terms  as  rublndi, 
refuse,  sweepings,  and  garbage  are  nowhere  clearly  diffw* 
entiated.  To  the  expert  in  sanitary  science,  however,  they 
mean  altogether  different  things,  and  each  prefigures  a 
type  of  urban  waste  which  presents  its  own  peculiar 
problems.' 

One  ought,  therefore,  to  begin  a  discusnon  of  sanitaiy 
questions  with  a  few  definitions.  Municipal  waste  indude% 
first  of  all,  the  <uhe$  from  steam  and  housdidd  furnaces. 
Although  the  total  volume  of  this  waste  is  large,  amoimting 
to  a  half-million  tons  in  Boston  every  year,  the  problems  of 
its  collection  and  disposal  are  the  simplest  of  aU.  Then,  in 
the  second  place,  there  is  that  variety  of  waste  which  is 
commonly  Imown  as  rvbbuh.  This  indudes  a  great  assort- 
ment of  bulky,  inoiganic  substances,  such  as  boxes,  paper, 
rags,  and  castaways  of  leather,  iron,  glass,  rubber,  and  tin. 
It  is  not  decomposable  matter,  and  most  of  it  is  easily  com' 
bustible.    The  third  sort  of  waste,  commonly  called  rtfum, 

*  Then  an  wmntni  itaadHd  otonWwtkHMi  of  mmieipBl  WMto.  Om 
of  them,  prepared  by  the  AnMrieui  PubUe  Health  AMoai»tioii,  maj  be 
ecmvwiiMitly  found  io  W.  F.  Mone't  ColUetidm  and  DUpotal  ef  MvuMfd 
WaiU  (New  York.  1908).  p.  13.  A  more  detailed  olMriflektioB  k  ihai 
in  Journal  ti  On  Aeeixy  of  ChtmUal  /Miiw'-y.  nnrtt.  876  (Apcfl  A 
IWB). 


agfe 


WA«ri  DiePOflAL  AND  mmRAOi 


IM 


consiito  mainly  of  iwvepiiifi  from  tho  itreotf  and  IwiMinp. 
Containing  both  organio  and  inorganio  mattor,  it  ia  rabjoet 
to  deoompoaition.'  Oarbag$,  the  fourth  variety,  oompriaea 
chiefly  the  Idtehen  waatea  from  hot^  reetauranta,  and 
dweilinga,  the  offal  from  marketa,  and  ao  f<wth,  —  materiala 
in  which  putrefaetion  begina  quiekly  and  which  aoon  become 
offensive,  if  not  actually  dangeroua  to  healtii .  The  fifth  and 
last  type  of  urban  waate  ia  Hwag§,  the  water4)ome  effluvia 
which  paaa  directly  from  buildingi  or  from  the  atreeta  into 
the  underground  aewer  maina.  In  ordinary  aewage  about 
99.8  per  cent  of  the  total  content  ia  water ;  but,  unlike  the 
other  typee  of  waate,  it  often  eontaina  a  diaeaae  ladea 
element  and  is  therefore  the  moat  conatantly  dangeroua  of 
thorn  all.  Each  of  theae  waatea,  it  ia  true,  haa  some  com- 
mercial value,  but  rardy  enough  to  covor  the  coat  of  getting 
it  safely  out  of  the  way.  Munidpal  aanitation  ia  an  ex> 
pensive  branch  of  local  government,  eq>edally  in  communis 
tics  of  over  one  hundred  thousand  population.  Ptor  capita 
payments  for  sanitation  diow  great  variation  throu|hout  the 
cities  of  the  United  Sta^ea ;  they  are  two  or  three  timea  aa 
large  in  some  munidpalitiea  aa  in  othoa.  Nowhere,  of 
course,  ia  the  aanitaiy  departmoit  able  to  pay  ita  own 
way.* 


*  Tlw  tarm  r^nm  is  oflsB  vmi  to  Inalads  rtiUiish  m  wiB.  Imt  ttas 
$n  good  TUMom  for  hsqilaa  tho  two  tsnu  soHoisto. 

'  1%«  United  Stotas  Bvnm  o(  tiw  Ow«M  (MmmM  AiriMte  ^  CM^ 
1913)  givw  Um  foOowinc  aginw  on  tUi  point:  — 


ObMiwCmM 

Amn»M,  MM  0«*R«  Om»  m 

CitiM  of  800,UUU  popolfttioB  and  onr      .    .    . 

CiUM  oT  ftom  800,000  to  800,000 

CitiM  of  from  100,000  to  800,000 

CiUM  of  ftom  80,000  to  1Q0A» 

CiUm  of  from  80,000  to  80,000 

•1.7S 
1.81 

3.a 

OJB 
0.87 

MClOCOrV  IBOUITION  TBT  CMAIT 

(ANSI  and  ISO  TEST  CHART  No.  2) 


Ih 

■  28 

■  2.5 

l» 

""^ 

■■^ 

Itt 

|3^ 

■  2.2 

|3j6 

■■■1 

IB 
■a 

U£ 

12.0 

j4 


/APPLIED  IM/IGE    Inc 

16U  Eait  Uoln   Strot 

Rochester,  Nc»  York       14609      USA 

(716)  482  -OJOO- Phone 

(716)  288  -  Mat  -  F« 


170     PRINCIPLES  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


tion  of  the 
■anitaiy  de- 
partment. 


Bocton. 


Phil*. 
delphia. 


New  York. 


Other  oitiei. 


THE  SUPERVISION  OF  WASTE  COLLECnON  AND  DISPOSAL 

To  supervise  the  collection  and  disposal  of  all  these  wastas 
is  the  duty  of  the  city's  sanitary  authorities.    In  some  cities 
the  entire  work  is  concentrated  witlxin  a  single  large  depart- 
ment.   Boston  is  a  good  example.    The  department  of  pubUc 
works  in  that  city,  under  a  single  commissioner  appointed  by 
the  mayor,  comprises  various  subordinate  divisions  which  in- 
clude the  work  of  street  cleaning,  the  disposal  of  all  rubbish, 
refuse,  and  garbage,  and  the  management  of  the  sewer 
service.     Every  branch  of  waste  removal  is  thus  under  the 
direction  of  a  single  official.    Substantially  the  same  ad- 
ministrative policy  is  pursued  in  Chicago  and  Philadelphia, 
where  the  director  of   the  department  of    public  works 
has  within  his  jurisdiction  the  bureaus  that  control  the 
sewers    and   all   other   agencies  of  waste  collection.    In 
New  York,  on  the  other  hand,  the  department  of  street 
cleaning,  with  a  single  commissioner  at  its  head,  takes 
charge  of   all    branches   of  rubbish    removal   (except   in 
the  boroughs  of  Queens  and  Richmond),  while  the  sewers 
are  managed   by  the   presidents  of   the   five  borou^is. 
Other  cities,  large  and  small,  have  different  schemes  of  or- 
ganization, but  the  work  of  removing  waste  is  more  often 
than  otherwise  divided  among  various  authorities.    The 
tendency  nowadays,  however,  is  to  concentrate  it,  and  this  is 
particularly  true  of  those  cities  which  have  established  the 
commission  system  of  administration.    But,  whether  the 
work  be  concentrated  or  divided,  the  department  in  charge 
must  always  maintain  close  relations  with  the  health,  street, 
and  water  departments  of  the  municipality,  for  to  all  of  them 
its  efficiency  is  of  great  consequence.    Right  here,  indeed, 
arises  the  fundamental  obstacle  in  the  way  of  a  thoroughly 
good  sanitary  organization.    On  the  one  hand,  municipal 
waste  removal  is  a  field  broad  enough  to  engage  the  un- 
divided attention  of  a  separate  administrative  department ; 
responsibility  for  the  proper  conduct  of  so  important  a  work 


WASTE  DISPOSAL  AND  SEWERAOB 


171 


should  unquestionably  be  defined  and  centralized.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  department's  work  touches  other  branches  of 
the  city's  administrative  service  so  frequently  and  at  so 
many  points  that  it  cannot  be  done  very  well  without  their 
systematic  cooperation. 

The  work  of  the  sanitary  authorities  is  closely  related, 
for  example,  to  that  performed  in  all  large  cities  by  the  Rf^stioM 
health  department.    Between  these  two  branches  of  mimic-  hLtth  d». 
ipal  administration  there  ought  to  be  a  certain  loose  artic-  p"**™"*- 
ulation  at  least ;  but  just  how  this  can  best  be  effected  will 
depend  upon  the  methods  of  organizing  the  two  branches  of 
administration.    There  was  a  time,  indeed,  when  the  func- 
tion of  supervising  the  removal  of  waste  was  in  many 
cities  intrusted  entirely  to  the  local  health  officers.    This 
arrangement,  however,  was  rarely  satisfactory,  for  public 
sanitation,  as  has  been  pointed  out,  is  not  merely  a  health 
affair.    The  work  of  the  health  department,  moreover,  ia 
largely  preventive  and  supervisory  ;   that  of  the  sanitary 
authorities  is  positive  and  requires  supervision.     The  collec- 
tion and  disposal  of  ashes  and  rubbish,  for  instance,  are  chiefly 
matters  of  public  convenience,  engineering  problems  rather 
than  enterprises  of  health  protection.    In  large  municipali- 
ties, therefore,  this  service  has  rightly  been  turned  over  to 
special  sanitary  officials.    Another  point  at  which  the  two 
departments  frequently  come  into  contact  has  to  do  with 
the  abatement  of  nuisances.    Things  that  menace  the  pub- 
lic health  are  nuisances,  and  the  common  law  has  always 
provided  authority  for  removing  them,  vesting  this  power 
usually  in  the  health  officers  of  the  municipality.    Without 
the  cooperation  of  the  sanitary  officiate,  however,  the  work 
of  the  health  authorities  is  likely  to  be  greatly  impaired. 
Although  one  department  thus  depends  a  good  deal  upon 
the  other,  their  respective  fields  of  work  can  neverthdess 
be  clearly  separated.    The  health  department  has  charge  of 
such  matters  as  the  collection  and  classification  of  vital 
statistics,  the  inspection  of  food  and  rnilk  suppli^,  the  pre- 


mmm 


mpp 


mimm 


TlMpiob- 
Icmofool- 
leetion. 


172     PRINCIPLB8  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

vention  of  epidemics,  the  removal  of  nuisances,  and  the 
giving  of  various  permits.  The  sanitar/  officials,  on  the 
other  hand,  are  in  charge  of  the  collection  and  disposal  of 
all  city  wastes,  including  within  their  jurisdiction  the  entire 
sewerage  system.  They  have  two  general  problems,  that  of 
getting  the  wastes  together  and  that  of  getting  them  out  of 
the  way. 


THS  OOLLBCnON  OF  CnT  WASTES 

The  problem  of  ultimate  disposal  with  regard  to  ashes, 
rubbish,  and  garbage  is  greatly  simplified  when  these  three 
kinds  of  waste  are  kept  separate.    In  small  municipalities 
this  is  hardly  necessary,  but  most  large  dties  now  require 
householders  to   keep  such  things  apart,  the  ordinances 
relating  to  the  matter  being  put  in  force  by  the  police.* 
So  far  as  the  separation  of  garbage  from  ashes  is  con- 
cerned, the  enforcement  of  such  a  regulation  is  not  difficult 
except  in  the  tenement  districts;   in  those  crowded  sec- 
tions of  the  city  it  is  always  hard  to  keep  the  people 
from  putting  ashes  and  every  other  sort  of  waste  into  the  same 
receptacles   at  the   curb.      In   numy   medium-eised   and 
smaller  cities  the  wastes  are  left  for  each  householder  to 
dispose  of  as  best  he  can;  in  others  the  collecting  must  be 
done,  at  the  householder's  expense,  by  licensed  scavengers. 
In  still  others,  again,  either  the  work  is  done  by  contractors 
who  are  paid  by  the  dty,  or  it  is  performed  directly  by  the 
employees  of  the  municipal  sanitary  department,  in  both 
cases    ordinarily    without    charge    to    the    householders, 
although  in  a  few  cities  it  is  the  custom  to  exact  a  smaD 
sum  per  load  for  removing  ashes  and  rubbish  from  office 
buildings,  large  stores,  and  manufacturing  establishments. 
In  large  cities  the  policy  of  letting  each  householder  look 
after  his  own  waste  has  never  proved  veiy  satisfactory ;  the 

» The  Sanitary  Code  of  New  York  Qty  ia  the  one  which,  with  ma» 
vanatioiit.  moat  of  the  othw  cities  have  ft^lowed. 


WASTE  DISPOBAL  AND  8SWBRAOI 


173 


work  is  of  such  a  nature  as  to  demand  un-'orm  regulations 
and  unvarying  methods.    It  is  properly  -  .  bUc  function.* 
Many  dties,  as  has  been  said,  while  assuming  respon- 
sibility for  the  collection  of  ashes,  refuse,  and  garbage,  turn  Coitoetiat 
over  the  actual  work  to  contractora  who  agree  to  do  it  for  ^^Hm 
stated  sums.    Sometimes  there  is  a  different  contractor 
for  each  class  of  waste;   sometimes  the  same  contractor 
obtains  the  work  of  removing  aU  kinds.     I«t  it  be  men- 
tioned that  the  policy  of  requiring  that  different  classes 
of  waste  be  kept  separate  is  sure  to  increase  the  cost  of 
coUection,  although  it  simplifies  the  problem  of  ultimate 
disposal.     Whichever  the  arrangement,  however,  here,  as 
in  other  city  departments,  the  contract  system  has  proved 
more  or  less  unsatisfactory.    Corruption  in  the  award  of 
contracts,  collusive  bidding  on  the  part  of  contractors,  a 
failure  to  give  the  full  service  agreed  upon,  and  a  lack 
of  due  regard  for  the  public  convenience  are  features  that 
have  disclosed  themselves  very  frequoitiy  under  the  con- 
tract plan.    Accordingly,  although  this  system  still  remains 
in  the  larger  number  of  American  cities,  the  present  ten- 
dency  is  to  get  away  from  it.    On  the  other  hand,  removal 
by  city  teams  and  city  labor  is  almost  always  a  more 
expensive  method,  for  the  reason  that  kbor  in  this  de- 
partment, Es  in  most  other  city  divisions,  is  paid  at  hi^er 
rates  and  receives  more  favorable  treatment  in  the  way  of 
hours  and  holidays  than  does  labor  in  the  employ  of  private 
contractors.     The  results,  however,  are  probably  worth 
the  extra   cost,  particularly  whwi  it  proves  possible  by 
means  of  civil-service  rules  to  keep  politics  out  of  the 
city's  sanitary  department.    If  the  policy  of  municipal 
ownership  and  operation  is  piudent  in  any  public  under- 
taking, it  surely  ought  to  be  so  in  this  one.* 

>  A  oanful  atndy  of  the  WMte-ooOeoikm  proUun  ia  ninted  in  Bmort 

the  Ohio  State  Boeid  of  Heeltii  (Cohimlnia,  1911).  ^^ 

A  i'?"'J°^'^!i'"'***'  ■"**  C»«»velMd  vae  the  dizeeMabor  pl»B ;  Phlhi- 
ddphia,  St.  I4mia.  ud  Boeton  ratein  the  eootnet  «rrtem  ofeobeotion. 


i^HlliliiPPHIilHilHMII 


DiqxMal 
Ofi 


Diqxiwlof 
rubbiah. 


174     PRIKCIPLn  OF  IftTNICIPAL  ADMINI8TIUTir>T 

Ashes,  when  th^  are  kept  separate  from  other  wastes, 
can  be  disposed  of  easily  by  the  mere  labor  of  dumping  them 
upon  low  or  marshy  land.  If  kept  free  from  paper,  straw, 
or  decomposing  matter,  they  make  very  satisfactory  and 
sanitary  material  for  filling  up  such  places.  Not  only  have 
many  acres  of  land  been  reclaimed  by  cities  in  this  way, 
but  when  the  land  is  owned  by  the  municipality  a  portion 
at  least  of  the  cost  of  collecting  the  ashes  may  be  recovered 
through  the  increased  value  of  the  tracts  reclaimed.  The 
ashes  of  New  York  Qty  have  been  used,  for  example,  in 
enlarging  Rikers  Island  in  the  East  River.  About  a  hun- 
dred acres  of  knd  have  been  reclaimed  during  the  last  ten 
years,  the  value  of  the  tract  being  thus  increased  by  at 
least  a  million  dollars,  it  is  estimated. 

The  satisfactory  disposal  of  rubbish  is  not  so  simple. 
Most  of  it  is  readily  combustible;  and  practically  all  of  it, 
including  even  tin  cans  and  bottles,  can  be  reduced  to  slag 
and  ashes  in  refuse  incinerators  if  a  sufficiently  high  tem> 
perature  is  secured  by  forced  draft.  But  incineration,  while 
afifording  the  most  sanitary  method  of  disposal,  is  a  rather 
uneconomic  process,  since  it  yields  not  even  a  partial  re- 
coupment for  the  outlay  involved.  A  few  American  dtiea 
have  undt.  taken  to  use  the  heat  from  refuse  incinerators 
for  the  generation  of  electric  light  or  power,  as  is  fr«- 
quently  done  in  British  towns.  In  Savannah  a  pumping 
station  is  operated  by  power  obtained  from  the  city's 
rubbish  and  refuse  destructor.*  In  Buffalo  the  pumps  of 
one  sewage  station  are  driven  by  steam  generated  at  the 
refuse  plant.'  New  York  tried  a  utilisation  experiment  in 
the  Delancey  Street  incinerator,  which  for  a  time  was  used 

which  is  the  plan  still  favofed  by  the  nutjmity  of  n^^jdlw  dtiflL    Raetak 
JjuresreUtang  to  methods  of  refase  dispoMj.  operating  costs,  etc..  inSbaai 

r.  *tJ^  »PP"«mtly  profitable  results  are  described  in  a  short  artfele  bf 
K.  H.  PMter  in  T^i,  American  City,  id.  194-197  (September,  1914). 
See  Sng%neenng  Record,  Iviii.  620-^1  (November  7, 190B) 


WAOTB  DISPOSAL  AND  SEWBRAOl 


175 


to  develop  power  for  lighting  t-he  William»burg  bridge ;  but 
a  private  eouipany  offered  to  fiimiBh  the  lights  more 
cheaply  and  the  city  accepted  the  offer.  Indeed,  if  one 
niay  judge  by  the  results  of  these  and  other  undertak- 
ings of  the  sort,  one  finds  it  to  be  extremely  doubtful 
whether  any  substantial  reduction  in  the  cost  of  incineratp 
iug  rubbish  and  refuse  can  be  obtained  in  this  way.  It 
takes  from  five  to  seven  tons  of  this  waste  to  give  the 
fuel  efficiency  of  a  single  ton  of  coal,  and  the  cost  of 
extra  handling  which  is  usually  made  necessaiy  by  any 
attempt  to  devdop  power  from  incinerators  is  likely  to 
offset  most  of  the  commercial  advantage.*  Because  it  is  a 
relatively  aq)en8ive  method  of  disposal,  not  many  American 
cities  have  adopted  the  common  European  process  of  in- 
cinerating all  their  dry  waste. 

Another  plan,  used  by  a  few  American  cities,  is  to  bring 
the  rubbish  to  a  receiving  station,  where  it  is  picked  over  ""^  tonbm 
by  the  employees  of  the  city  or  by  some  contractor  who 
has  obtained  the  privil^^.  In  Buffalo,  Cambridge,  and  a 
few  other  cities  the  sorting  is  carried  on  by  city  employees ; 
in  Boston  and  Washington  it  is  done  by  contractors. 
Everything  that  can  be  turned  to  commercial  account  — 
paper,  rags,  metals,  rubber  —  is  picked  out  and  carted  off; 
what  remains  is  sometimes  burned.  In  coast  cities  this 
residue  was  formeriy  towed  out  to  sea  on  scows  and 
dumped  overboard.  Both  New  York  and  Boston  used 
this  plan  for  many  years  until  forced  to  abandon  it  be- 
cause so  much  litter  was  washed  back  by  wind  and  tide. 
The  picking-over  process,  in  which  cheap,  alien  help  is 
ordinarily  used,  affords  about  the  most  distasteful  of  all 
employments;  it  is  doubtful,  indeed,  whether  the  small 
revenue  which  the  city  dmves  by  this  means  ought  ever 

'  There  is  a  general  ehapter  on  "Warte  Diqweal  by  UtUization"  in 
WMriee  Badierville's  Munietpal  ChemUtry  (New  York,  1911),  pp.  25»- 
265.  A  more  eztoided  diasonimi  of  the  nibjeot.  with  deraiiptiona  uid 
rtatisties,  is  W.  P.  Qoodriofa's  B^tm  Ditpotal  and  Powv  ProduetioH 
(London,  1904). 


J 


176     PRINCIPLES  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

to  outweigh  eonnderations  of  public  health  and  decency. 
With  strict  oversight,  however,  the  sorting  establishment 
is  not  intolerable. 


BtlMtMlli- 

tstkm:  tiM 


fefuM. 


flTREBT  CLBANINO 

The  streets  of  the  city  yield,  each  day,  not  only  a  large 
amount  of  rubbish,  but  also  an  accumulation  of  "sweep* 
ings,"  chiefly  animal  manure.*    If  the  streets  are  to  per- 
form their  full  service  to  the  community,  they  must  be 
cleaned  frequently,  particularly  in  districts  where  there  is 
much  vehicle  traffic.    This  is  one  field  of  municipal  effort 
in  which  the  cities  of  Europe  have  gone  far  ahead  of  us,  as 
even  the  most  superficial  traveller  must  have  observed. 
The  reason  may  be  found  to  some  extent  in  the  fact  that 
the  streets  of  European  cities  have,  as  a  whole,  been  better 
paved,  more  promptly  repaired,  and  better  provided  with 
appliances  for  flushing  their  surfaces.    The  more  rigid  en- 
forcement of  rules  against  throwing  litter  in  the  streets  is 
also  a  factor.     Mainly,  however,  the  superior  results  ob- 
ta'ned  abroad  are  to  be  accounted  for  by  the  relatively 
-    >  J  liberal  expenditures  for  this  work  and  by  the  free  use 
^     modem  machinery  for  street  cleansing.    In  America, 
moreover,  the  problem  of  keeping  the  streets  clean  is  more 
difficult  than  elsewhere.    Our  mileage  of  macadam  is  very 
large,  and  this  form  of  roadway  is  the  hardest  to  keep  in 
sanitary  condition.    Then,  too,  labor  is  costly  in  the  street- 
cleaning  department,  for  political  pressiu^  often  results  in 
the  employment  of  old  or  inefficient  men  who  are  not  fit 
for  the  heavier  work  of  the  street-construction  division.    In 

» The  amount  of  "swwfiBga"  which  moat  be  gathered  from  the  ttraeti 
w  a  large  city  every  twraty-fourhouniaenonnoiu.  It  has  been  eetimated, 
for  example,  that  a  ton  of  animal  manure  must  be  dafly  removed  ftomthe 
atreets  for  every  hundred  hanet  udng  them.  See  the  ehaptw  on  "Street 
Samtation,"  by  Commiuioner  W.  H.  Edwards,  in  Charles  BaskerviUs's 
Municipal  Chemi»try  (New  York,  1911),  pp.  222-236.  The  inereased 
use  of  motor  vehicles  will,  howevw,  greatly  deeiease  the  work  of  ^ 
streetKsteaning  department  as  time  goes  on. 


nwUMxii. 


WASTl  DISPOSAL  AND  BIWKRAOB  177 

almost  eveiy  American  city  the  pay-roll  of  the  rtreetHjleaning 

AlT  "k  '  ?'**  "**"*  "**^*'  »°"  *^"  •  P«»ion  lilt 
Although  no  department  of  public  work  more  intimacy 
concern,  the  health,  comfort,  and  convenience  of^^ 
cituemi,  m  none  does  the  average  municipality  get  a 
smaUer  real  return  for  its  expenditure.*  ^ 

mtrurt»d  to  the  street  department,  in  others  to  the  sanitary  8t«^*«. 

pohcy;  but  m  any  case  the  function  is  sufficiently  impo,-  -^^ 
tant,  except  m  smaU  municipalities,  to  warrant  its  l^ 
coHMgned  to  a  special  subordinate  bureau  or  division.    The 

Z^  '*^  V^°'°^?  '^^  ""^y  «*«»"*»  two  iifts  oJ 
aTd^nfTV^f^'  *^*"  ^  *^*  ''"^  °f  8**hering  paper 

B^^^  r*"'  ""f  ,°^  ""^r  *^"  ^  °^  pat«,l7co;er. 
But  in  the  second  place  there  is  the  more  extensive  funo- 

!  !L     "J««P^&  and  in  some  cases  flushing,  the  entire 
treet  surface  in  order  to  gather  animal  ^ure,  muT 

involves  the  use  of  rotaiy  brooms  and  squeegees  with 
squads  of  men  Most  of  this  work,  ahno^^Tit  S 
feet,  murt  be  done  at  night.  There  are  times,  of  coii.^ 
when  a  heavy  snowfaU  makes  it  necessary  to  combine 

t^m  I  "?  '"^*  ^^'^'  ^'  ^«"  ^  '^"i»i«on  men 
Z  t  ^^'*'^^^*»-  ^  the  matter  of  cUmatic  condi- 
taons  European  cities  are  favored;  no  such  strain  is  ever 
put  upon  their  street-cleaning  departments  as  that  which 
f^^^TrS"^^  the  winter  months,  upon  cities  like 
tZ  :^5  ^'*^'  ""^  ^*«^"-  ^th  in  organisation  and 
m  methods  of  street  cleansing,  however,  steady  improve- 

A.  8^p^  jS^  vS!2*t5"*!i^  AmmkBn  ii»tliods  i.  given  in  a«on. 
rrSL!  J    ^^^  u***°*  *^  *'**'  Cfooniiv  (New  York.  1900)  * 

«.  w^  '  %'°°^  ^^P*""  *"»  "Street  OeMdng"  in  I T  Byn»'.  7V«.«- 
«  Hithxvay  CtnMruetkm  (New  York.  UW)^.  flO^TsS.   '^  '  '^^'^ 

av 


w 


178     PRIN0IPL18  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINI8T1UTI0N 


The  New 
York  pUn. 


ment  it  being  achieved  is  thia  country.  Better  paving, 
more  adequate  sewer  faoilitiM,  and  modem  iweeping 
machinery  will  accomplish  much ;  but  the  full  solution  of  a 
diflScult  problem  will  not  be  found  until  city  authorities 
insist  that  the  street-cleaning  force,  in  point  of  bodily  vigor, 
shall  be  just  as  competent  as  that  of  any  other  dquui- 
ment. 

In  New  York  City  the  work  of  street  cleaning  is  deemed 
of  sufficient  importance  to  be  intrusted  to  a  special  depart- 
ment. The  commissioner  is  appointed  by  the  mayor  and 
is  removable  by  him  at  any  time.  His  jurisdiction  extends, 
however,  over  the  three  chief  borough  of  Manhattan, 
Brooklyn,  and  The  Bronx  only ;  in  the  boroughs  of  Queens 
and  Richmond  the  service  is  under  the  direction  of  tiie 
borough  presidents.  The  street-cleaning  department  con- 
trols the  removal  and  disposal  not  only  of  street  sweepings, 
but  of  ashes,  rubbish,  and  garbage  as  well.  For  handling 
the  department's  work  the  three  boroughs  are  divided  into 
districts,  each  in  charge  of  a  superintendent ;  every  district, 
again,  is  divided  into  sections,  with  a  foreman  in  charge  of 
each  section.  There  are  over  one  hundred  sections  in  all, 
and  the  actual  street-sweeping  force  nimibers  nearly  twenty- 
seven  hundred  men,  each  of  whom  is  expected  to  cover,  on 
the  average,  about  ten  thousand  square  yards  of  street 
surface  daily.  In  point  of  efficient  organization,  accounting 
methods,  and  general  achievements  the  New  York  depart- 
ment is  one  of  the  best. 
Street  sweepings  have  some  value  as  fertilizing  material, 
Thediipcwai  and  in  smaller  cities  it  is  sometimes  possible  to  dispose  of 

of  street  ,  ,.  •■..  t,.., 

iweepiogi.  the  accumulations  m  this  way.  In  larger  cities  the  common 
practice  is  to  use  this  form  of  waste  in  filling  land.  To 
some  extent  a  sale  for  it  has  been  found  among  ndghboring 
market-gardeners  and  florists,  but  the  heavy  cost  of  trans- 
porting the  material  over  any  considerable  distance  has 
precluded  much  chance  of  realizing  an  appreciable  return 
in  this  way.    An  interesting  experiment  in  that  field  was 


WAflTI  DISPOaAL  AND  SBWBRAOI 


170 


tried  by  the  itreet-eleaning  department  of  New  York  Oty 
about  ten  years  ago.  "^  e  street  sweepings  were  gathered 
into  bags  and  deliverer  .,  farmen  on  Long  Island  at  prices 
sufficient  to  cover  freight  charges  alone ;  but,  as  the  farmers 
for  the  most  part  would  not  pay  even  these  prices,  the  plan 
was  soon  abandoned.  The  street  sweepings  of  New  York 
are  now  sent,  along  with  ashes,  to  Riken  Island,  to  be  used 
for  filling  low  land.  The  approjdmato  value  of  street  sweep- 
ings for  fertilising  purposes  is  a  dollar  a  ton,  but  it  too 
often  costs  far  more  than  that  to  get  it  on  the  ^ot^^ 

TBX  OABBAGS-DIBPOaAL  PBOBLiai 

Garbage,  or  organic  waste  from  hotels  and  houses,  pre- 
sents a  somewhat  dulerent  and  more  complicated  problem.  v»rioui 
There  are  several  methods  of  disposal,  some  of  them  inex-  SSS'ta 
pensive  but  unsanitary,  others  scientific  and  satisfactory 
but  involving  a  considerable  money  outlay  if  used  on  a 
large  scale.    It  is  still  a  common  practice,  even  in  large 
cities,  to  sell  garbage  to  some  contractor  and  let  him  use  it 
in  feeding  hogi,  or  els?  to  use  the  garbage  in  this  way  on  a 
hog  farm  owned  by  Uie  city  itself.    Amoi      Moh  cities  are 
Worcester,  Denver   FaU  Fiver,  Omaha,  CtJuibridge,  Prov- 
idence, uad  Tacoeaa.     T  ««  is  not  a  great  deal  to  be 
said  in  favor  of   this  u^^^hod  except  that  it  is  cheap. 
More  than  twenty-4vi  ymm  ago    he  MaMachusetts  state 
board   of  health  expre^         the   opinion,  after  a  careful 

.  vFould  assist  the  spread  of 
^used  by  eating  infect  i 

_  . nment  to  the  public  hea'. ,  u. 

Experience,  however,  does  .»t  appear  to  have  borne  out 
this  prediction.  At  the  ami  ime  the  praetiee  is  repellent 
to  the  public  imagination,  an  if  th<?  feeding  farm  is  not 
kept  under  the  most  careful  m  «emm^  it  is  Mkely  to  be- 
come an  odoriferous  nuisance  «  *«►  whole  countryside. 
An  epidemic  among  the  swine  ht  r  '^reover,  may  offset 


investigation,  that  the  i 
trichinosis  (a  human  d> 
pork)  and  hence  prove  a 


w 


wm 


180     PRINCIPLI8  or  MUNICIPAL   XDMINimUTION 

in  loM  to  the  oontraoton  or  the  dty  all  their  profits  for 
many  ycari.* 

In  a  few  cities  of  the  United  States  the  garbage  is  either 
buried  or  used  for  filling  low  Und,  a  method  whioh,  though 
not  necessarily  offensive,  is  at  best  a  makeshift.  St. 
Louis  disposes  of  a  considerable  part  of  its  household 
wastes  in  this  way,  and  so  do  various  smaller  munici- 
palities. Di.mping  garbage  into  the  river  or  sea  is 
the  plan  pursued  by  New  Orleans,  Oakland,  and  some 
other  cities  conveniently  located  near  the  coast.  If  trans- 
ported  a  sufficient  distance  from  the  shore  it  can  be  got  rid 
of  in  this  way  without  risk  of  any  objectionable  features. 
It  is  not,  like  sewage,  liable  to  pollute  the  shell-fish  beds, 
nor  does  it,  like  rubbish,  float  in  large  quantities  back  to 
shore.  Not  one  of  these  plans,  however,  offers  an  ideal  and 
final  solution  of  the  city's  garbage  problem. 
A  far  more  efficient  i^ystem  is  incineration.  Garbage 
o^ljg^  may  be  burned  along  with  rubbish  or  it  may  be  cremated 
separately.  In  many  European  cities  it  k  destroyed  in  the 
incinerator  with  dry  wastes,  and  in  a  few  Ar^erican  cities 
the  same  plan  is  in  operation.  There  are  va  s  types  of 
garbage  incinerators,  designed  not  only  to  b  i  all  solid 
matter  but  to  secure  a  complete  and  odorless  combustion 
of  the  gases  as  well.  When  garbage  is  ;.'Ht  into  the  fiunaces 
along  with  dry  wastes  then-  \f.  little  Oi  uo  possibility  of 
using  the  heat  for  commercial  purposes  with  any  profit; 
for,  since  ordinary  garbage  contains  a  large  percentage  of 
water,  it  uses  up  nearly  all  the  combustion  efficiency  of  the 
dty  rubbish  in  getting  itself  consumed.  In  England,  where 
refuse  destructors  have  been  employed  to  develop  steam 
power,  the  experiments  have  on  the  whole  been  disap- 
pointing; while  in  America,  owing  to  the  higher  cost  of 
labor,  even  less  satisfactory  results  would  in  all  probability 

•  The  city  of  Worcester,  Mass.,  lost  iU  entire  herd  of  about  two  thou- 
sand hogs  by  an  epidemio  of  "foot-and-mouth  disease"  in  the  sutnotn  d 
1914. 


WARTI  DISPOSAL  AND  SBWlRAaE 


Itl 


be  obtained.*  There  w  alwsyi  the  duiger,  monover,  th«. 
the  oommereial  phMo  of  such  an  undertAking  will  receive 
more  emphasis  than  the  sanitary,  a  contingency  from 
which  the  public  well-being  is  not  likely  to  gain  much  in 
the  long  run.  Although  there  is  a  popular  notion  that 
city  garbage  can  be  made  to  yield  some  profit  as  fud, 
♦his  idea  is  supported  neither  by  experience  nor  by  ex- 
^rt  opinion.  Incineration  of  {^age  on  a  large  scale  is  ' 
carried  on  in  Atlanta,  Milwaukee,  Minneapolis,  Spokane, 
and  Memphis.' 

The  other  method  of  utilising  garbage  is  commonly 
called  the  reduction  process.'  There  are  several  patented  0'»*>m» 
plans  of  garbage  reduction;  but  the  general  method  is  to  '^''•**^ 
bring  all  the  garbage  to  a  central  plant,  where  it  is  put 
into  great  steel  cylindrical  tanks.  Here  it  is  subjected  to 
heat  and  pressure  with  the  object  of  drawing  all  the  grease, 
oil,  and  other  liquid  from  it.  The  grease  and  oil  are  then 
separated  from  the  water  (sometimes  by  the  use  of  gasoline 
or  acids  rather  than  by  mechanical  process)  and  made  into 
some  marketable  product,  such  as  axl&-grease  or  soap.  The 
solid  residuum  is  usually  dried  and  by  the  addition  of  dry 
chemicals  is  made  saleable  as  fertilizing  material.  This 
system  of  reduction  can  be  used  with  commercial  success 
whenever  a  very  large  daily  supply  of  garbage  is  avaikble, 
but  not  otherwise.  New  York  City  deliveiB  each  year 
more  than  a  half-million  cubic  yards  of  garbage  to  the  con- 
tractors who  operate  the  huge  reduction  plant  at  Barren 
Island.*    Boston  deals  with  nearly  all  of  its  gairbage  in  this 

•iS^  ^IS^J^^^^  °*  "^^  ■"•*  g«rbi«e  inoi.  raUw  are  fuUy  de- 
,  A  .  v,^- f  •9<'«Woh'i  Modern  DeUruetor  Proetice  (New  York,  1912). 
'A  table  ibowing  the  MmosI  wnottnU  of  gubece  dkpoeed  of  in  Umm 

vwiolu  w>ye  may  be  found  in  the  United  Stotee  Bureau  of  the  Cenraa. 

C«n«r<ii  SfaKMttM  ««(  C«»M,  1909  (Waahiagtwj,  1913),  pp.  4»-43.  ^^^ 
A  UMftd  book  on  the  graoal  robjeet  of  waate  diqKMal  ia  W.  F. 

Morse  I  ColUaim  and  Ditpoial  tS  Municipal  Wa*U  (New  York,  1908). 

It  fully  deaeribei  the  Men.  Simonin,  Arnold.  Chamberlain,  Bdain,\nd 

othw  prooeMca  of  garbage  reduction. 

'TWajrfMitiadeKribedl^E.  D.V«yia/Mflittrf«rf<A«5ocM<iiofC**«*. 
•«rf  rndu^,  xxvii.  378-879  (April  ^^^^"'^ <^ "^ "^^"^ ^ ^**»»- 


182     PRINCIPLES  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


way,  through  the  agency  of  a  private  company  which  main- 
tains a  reduction  plant  on  Spectacle  Island  in  the  city's 
harbor ;  the  company,  in  addition  to  the  retvan  which  it 
obtains  from  the  sale  of  garbage  products,  receives  an 
annual  subsidy  from  the  city  treasury.    The  chief  objection 
to  the  plan,  however,  is  the  difficulty,  in  most  American 
cities,  of  obtaining  a  suitable  location  for  a  reduction  plant. 
Despite  all  attempts  to  render  the  process  odorless  and  in- 
offensive by  the  use  of  eichaust  fans  to  draw  the  gases  into 
the  furnace,  a  garbage  reduction  plant  is  something  which 
no  outlying  section  of  a  city  seems  willing  to  tolerate  with- 
out persistent  complaint  and  opposition.    If,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  plant  is  located  so  far  away  as  to  be  inoffensive 
to  any  populated  section,  the  increased  cost  of  haulage 
renders  the  whole  plan  imeconomical.    The  same  difficulty 
appears,  though  in  somewhat  less  degree,  in  the  case  of 
garbage  disposal  by  incineration.     Other  large  American 
cities  that  employ  the  reduction  process  for  either  all  or  a 
part  of  their  garbage  are  Philadelphia,  Chicago,  Baltimore, 
and  Pittsburgh. 
Most  of  the  garbage-reduction  plants  now  maintained  in 
Jnd  St«    *^®  ^^^^^  °^  *^®  United  States  are  owned  and  operated  by 
ofthereduc-  Companies.     In  some  cases  a   single   company   operates 
tionpian.     pia^tg  ^  several  cities.     Whether  they  are  profitable  to 
their  owners  we  have  no  definite  means  of  knowing,  for  the 
companies  are  not  required  to  make  their  accounts  public. 
But  Chicago,  Columbus,  and  Cleveland  have  undertaken 
garbage  reduction  in  a  scientific  manner  as  a  direct  munici- 
pal enterprise.     The  Cleveland  plant,  which  uses  the  Edson 
process,  has  been  in  operation  since  1906.    The  financial 
results  are  there  regarded  as  very  satisfactory.*    When  con- 

>  The  Oeveland  plant  is  described  in  the  Municipal  Journal  and  Engi- 
neer, XXV.  41S-419  (Septembw  23.  1908) ;  also  in  W.  P.  Mane's  CclUetUm 
and  DUpotal  of  Municipal  Wa*U  (New  York,  1908),  pp.  397-405.  F^ 
urea  of  operatinK  costs  and  returns  are  given  in  the  annual  rvpwts  o#  tb* 
Department  of  Public  Service,  Division  of  Garbage,  <A  the  dty  dt  Qeve- 
-    land.    The  plant  handles  about  50,000  tons  of  garbage  pw  year.    Theeeil 


WASTE  DISPOSAL  AND  8EWERAQB 


183 


tracts  for  garbage  reduction  have  been  awarded  in  other 
cities  there  has  rarely  been  any  real  competition,  and  an  ex- 
amination of  the  stockholders'  lists  will  usually  disclose  that 
local  poUticians  are  prominent.    If  one  may  judge  from  the 
tenacity  with  which  those  companies  that  have  the  awards 
strive  to  hold  on  to  them  and  to  have  them  renewed  for 
term  after  term,  one  must  conclude  that  they  are  in  all 
probabiHty  quite  as  profitable  as  any  other  municipal  con- 
tracts.   One  reason  for  the  common  failure  to  obtain  real 
competition  in  this  matter  may  be  found  in  the  policy  of 
awarding  contracts  for  short  terms.    No  private  company 
is  ready  to  erect  a  reduction  plant  unless  it  is  assured  of  at 
least  a  ten-year  term ;  hence,  when  proposals  involving  a 
shorter  term  are  called  for,  no  bidders  other  than  the  com- 
pany already  in  possession  of  the  plant  are  able  to  submit 
reasonable  figures.    CSties  have  been  forced  to  go  into  these 
agreements  rather  blindly,  and  so  are  probably  paying  more 
for  the  service  than  it  is  really  worth. 


noatt 


BiuNiciPAL  sbweraoe:  history,  design,  and 

CONSTRUCTION 

In  addition  to  the  rough  waste  that  has  to  be  coUected 
bodily  and  carted  oflF,  there  is  the  fluid  waste  commonly  Swrmand 
known  as  sewage,  which  must  be  taken  care  of  in  a  different  Z^^' 
way.    This  is  the  most  dangerous  of  all  the  wastes  of  civili-  •'e'^e'op- 
zation.    From  earliest  times  its  safe  removal  has  been 
r^arded  as  important  in  all  large  centres  of  population. 
There  were  public  sewers  in  ancient  Rome,  some  of  them 
very  Urge.    One  of  them,  the  famous  Cloaca  Maxima, 

i. ?l^f ? *■  f^'"*.?'? P" *°°' "<* *^»  ocpmaeB of  reduotioii  ue rated 
?nJLfli«^  **^  *,"■  *'«^'  '^**'°"*'  »»o'«^.  including  interart  upon 
mvestment  in  the  plant,  aUowanoe  for  depreciation,  or  anythinc  in  lieo 

but  htt'  over  $160,000  per  annum,  the  net  oost  of  mnnidpa!  collection 
and  wasie  disposal  is  in  any  oaae  a  very  substantial  sum.  It  is  unquestion- 
th^^ibtaTSiS:^  would  have  to  be  paid  to  a  private  company  for 


Sanitaiy 
and  storm 
■ewerage: 
merits  of 
the  separate 
and  com- 
Uned 
qwtemi. 


184     PRINCIPLES  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

built  twenty-five  centuries  ago,  is  still  in  use.  Open  drains 
and  gutters,  however,  were  all  that  most  cities  of  mediseval 
Europe  undertook  to  provide  and  even  these  were  not 
always  at  hand.  Historically  a  distinction  should  be  made 
between  drains  and  sewers,  and  it  was  not  until  the  eight- 
eenth century  that  London  possessed  any  undergroimd 
sewers.  The  authorities  began  to  work  in  this  direction 
about  1725,  and  the  larger  cities  of  continental  Europe 
soon  followed  suit;  but  the  sewers  were  too  often  inade- 
quate in  size  and  faulty  in  construction.  In  America  box 
drains  of  wood  were  laid  in  New  York  as  early  as  1676, 
and  diuing  the  eighteenth  century  some  brick  sewers  were 
built  by  private  owners.  There  were  no  public  conduits 
in  any  American  city  until  after  1800,  and  even  then  wood 
was  commonly  used  in  their  construction.  Many  of  these 
wooden  sewers,  however,  built  during  the  first  half  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  are  still  doing  service  in  the  older  com- 
munities. Some  cities  are  geographically  so  situated  as  to 
be  easily  drained,  in  others  the  problem  of  drainage  is  more 
difficult.  Proximity  to  strong  tidal  oi:  river  ciirrents  and 
elevation  of  the  city  well  above  the  shore  line  are  features 
that  simphfy  matters.  Cities  like  Boston  and  Chicago,  on 
the  other  hand,  which  are  set  in  large  part  on  filled  land 
rising  only  a  few  feet  above  the  sea  or  lake  level,  present 
much  more  difficult  sanitary  questions. 

The  sewage,  or  polluted  water  waste  of  a  city,  is  of  two 
sorts.  First,  there  is  the  effluvium  from  the  sinks  and  sani- 
tary appUances  of  dwellings,  factories,  workshops,  and 
hotels ;  in  the  second  place  there  is  the  waste  water  from 
the  streets,  yards,  and  roofs  of  buildings.  A  modem  sewer- 
age system  must  make  provision  for  both  these  services. 
One  of  the  first  questions  in  sewer  design,  therefore,  is 
whether  the  ordinary  sewage  and  the  storm  water  shall  be 
carried  away  in  the  same  or  in  separate  sewers.  The  proper 
answer  to  this  question  depends  on  various  factors,  partic- 
ularly upon  whether  the  region  is  thickly  populated,  whether 


WASTK  DISPOSAL  AND  SEWERAGE 


185 


the  storm  water  can  be  easOy  and  cheaply  diverted  to  a 
natural  waterway,  and  whether  the  ultimate  treatment  of 
the  sewage  is  simple  or  compUcated.    On  these  things  will 
depend  the  relative  cost  of  the  two  plans.    There  is  one 
fundamental    difference   between    the   systems,   however, 
which  the  general  student  of   municipal    administration 
should  not  overlook,  namely,  that  with  the  separate  system 
no  house  effluvia  need  ever  be  discharged  into  a  watercouise. 
With  the  combined  system,  on  the  other  hand,  a  city  faces 
the  problem  either  of  turning  the  surplus  flow,  after  a  heavy 
ramfall,  into  some  neighboring  waterway  or  of  providing 
a  sewage-treatment  phmt  which  can  handle  great  fluctua- 
tions  in  quantity.*    In  Enghrnd  the  rules  of  the  Local  Gov- 
ernment Board  require  that  inhind  treatment  plants  shaU 
be  designed  to  accommodate,  in  an  emergency,  six  times 
the  average  dry-weather  flow  of  sewage.* 

The  volume  of  ordinary  domestic  sewage  amounts,  in 
round  numbers,  to  about  one  hundred  gallons  per  capita  The<wi, 
daUy,  more  than  99  per  cent  of  which  is  water.  But  to  this  S^5** 
must  be  added  the  wastes,  other  than  sewage  proper,  that 
come  from  a  great  number  and  variety  of  manufacturing 
establishments,  such  as  laundries,  breweries,  textile  mills, 
abattoirs,  and  miscellaneous  plants.  Very  frequently,  how- 
ever, some  of  these  wastes  do  not  enter  the  sewers  at  aU; 
for  many  industrial  establishments  in  large  cities  are  located 
on  or  near  the  water  front,  and  their  wastes  are  in  such  oases 
usually  discharged  directly  into  the  harbor,  lake,  or  river. 
But  some  other  concerns  are  not  so  located,  and  these  must 
ordmarily  use  the  municipal  sewer  mains.  How  much  these 
establishments  increase  the  daily  volume  of  sewage  can 

'A  sUtoment  <rf  the  chief  aistiments  for  and  aniiut  the  oombined 
syBtem  may  be  found  in  Leofl«d  Metoalf  ud  HT]Bd<S^  A^^m 
S««er^,  PracHce  (3  volt..  New  York.  1914-  ).  i.  iS  sTlZ 
tL^- """P^  i*^  "8epM»te  and  Combined  Sewen  in  their  ReUtions  to 
the  D«po«l  of  Sewage,"  in  Th.  American  City,  ix.  641W621d;^^ 

'  H.  P.  Raikei,  Sewagt  Ditpotal  Workt  (New  Ywk,  1908),  p.  307. 


Theplan- 
ninsand 
eonitruc- 
tionof 


186     PRINCIPLB8  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

rarely  be  estimated  with  any  approach  to  accuracy ;  the 
figures  compiled  by  the  United  States  Bureau  of  the  Census 
in  1905  show  that  in  various  cities  manufacturing  wastes 
constituted  all  the  way  from  5  to  75  per  cei.t  of  the  entire 
sewage  volume.*  Ma:^y  citied  reported  that  no  estimates 
had  been  made  or  could  fairly  be  made.  Everjrthing 
depends  upon  the  number  and  the  nature  of  the  manu- 
facturipg  establishments;  for  some  industries  (like  laun- 
dries and  dye-houses)  have  a  great  deal  of  fluid  waste,  while 
others  (such  as  grist-mills  and  furniture  factories)  ha'<'  ^ 
comparatively  Uttle.  At  any  rate,  whatever  the  volume, 
provision  must  be  made  for  taking  care  of  this  manufactur- 
ing waste  in  addition  to  the  ordinary  house  and  workshop 
sewage;  hence  the  sanitary  sewers  of  a  city  must  usually 
carry  from  one  hundred  and  fifty  to  one  hundred  and  seveniy- 
five  gallons  per  head  of  population  each  day*  When  the 
same  sewers  are  also  used  to  convey  storm  water  from 
streets  and  roofs  as  well  as  to  take  care  of  ground-water 
infiltrations,  their  capacity  mtist  be  several  times  as  great. 
It  is  obvioiis  that,  in  the  interest  of  ordinary  prudeiice 
and  economy,  every  city  should  have  a  comprehensive 
plan  of  sewer  construction ;  but  many  municipalities 
have  gone  ahead  without  anjrthing  of  the  sort.    Sewers 

>  United  States  Bureau  of  the  Census,  Gensrei  SUOitHa  of  Citia,  1905, 
pp.  98-100.  Some  more  recent  figures  may  be  ''«und  in  Metoalf  and 
Eddy  (as  above),  i.  184. 

'  The  figures  of  daily  per  eai»ta  volume  as  compiled  by  the  CouRia 
Bureau  in  1909  are  as  follows :  — 


Qaour  or  Cmn 

Dailt  VotviiB  or  Omirijnr 
SswAoa  rsa  CtruA. 

Cities  of  over  300,000  population 

Cities  of  from  100,000  to  300,000 

Citi'ffl  of  *rom  50,000  to  100,000 

Citiea  of  from  30,000  to  50,000 

172  gallons 
leSgaUons 
140  gallons 
162  gallons 

Bureau  of  tho  Census,  General  Stalislie*  of  Cilie$,  1909  (Washington,  1913), 
pp.  29  uid  114-116  (uUe  No.  7). 


WASTE  DISPOSAL  AND  SIWERAQB  187 

have  been  buflt  without  due  reference  to  future  devel- 
opment or  coming  needs,  with  the  result  that  there  has 
been  many  a  costly  mistake.    As  the  proper  basis  for  a 
sewer  plan  each  city  should  have  an  accv^te  topographi- 
cal map  showing  not  only  aU  the  surface  grades,  but  the 
nature  of  the  sod  or  rock  through  which  the  sewere  must 
pass,  as  weU  as  the  location  of  aU  subways,  water  pipes,  gas 
mams,  wire  conduits,  and  other  possible  obstruction  to 
direct  passage.    Without  full  data  on  these  and  many  other 
matters  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  estimates  of  cost  can  ever  be 
accurately  determined ;  but  too  often  there  is  no  such  map 
apparatus.     It  is  also  essential  that  eveiy  sewer  should 
have  f  slope  just  sufficient  to  give  it  a  self-cleansing  veloo- 
ity;  more  than  that  involves  needless  cost  in  construction, 
less  than  that  means  extra  cost  in  flushing  and  cleaning. 

The  materials  most  commonly  used  in  the  construction 
of  seweiB  are  bnck,  stone,  or  concrete  (particuUirly  the  last)  Th. 
for  krge  mams,  and  vitrified  clay  tile  for  the  smaUer  con-  ^^ 
dmts^  If  the  sewer  is  to  be  over  two  feet  in  diameter,  rein- 
forced  concrete  is  now  regarded  as  the  best  material.  If  the 
^ound  through  which  the  sewer  passes  is  boggy  or  liable  to 
settle,  It  IS  wise  to  use  cast-iron  pipes  instead  of  tUe  on 
account  of  the  greater  tensUe  strength  of  the  iron,  and  also 
because  the  jomts  can  with  a  greater  degr^  of  certainty  be 
made  proof  against  leakage.'  ^ 

To  estimate  the  proper  size  of  sanitary  sewers  is  a  prob- 
km  of  no  great  difficulty.    The  population  of  a  district  Th.-.- 
multiphed  by  one  hundred  and  fifty  will  give  about  the  '™- 
numbei  of  gallons  of  sewage  to  be  carried  per  day.    Provi- 
sion should  of  course  be  made  for  future  increase  in  popu- 

'T^oottof  ■eouriBg«iahd»t»i»iometiiM.not»««t     t«  a*  t     . 


■mil 


Theolaaii- 
ioffof 


188     PRINCIPLES  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISriUTTON 

lation,  and  also  for  greater  allowances  per  capita  as  house- 
hold saoitary  appliances  come  into  more  general  use.  The 
proper  siie  of  storm  sewers,  on  the  contrary,  or  of  storm 
and  sanitary  sewers  when  the  two  are  combined,  is  not  so 
easy  to  determine ;  for  here  the  duration  and  intensity  of 
occasional  heavy  rainstorms  are  the  controlling  factors, 
and  these  differ  greatly  in  various  parts  of  the  country. 

Not  all  the  rainfall,  moreover,  goes  to  the  sewers,  and 
what  proportion  will  be  taken  care  of  by  ausorption  or 
otherwise  depends  on  many  things,  —on  the  gener.U  slope 
of  the  surface,  the  geological  character  of  the  sub-surface,  the 
nature  of  the  streets  whether  paved  or  unpaved,  the  relative 
amount  of  roof  and  ground  surface,  and  the  temperature  of 
the  air  as  affecting  evaporation,  —  factors  so  variable  that 
th^  cannot  be  estimated  without  the  assistance  of  mudi 
reliable  information  drawn  from  many  sources.  It  has 
been  found  from  weather-bureau  records  that  as  mudi 
as  one  inch  of  rain  may  sometimes  fall  in  a  single  hour, 
and  gaugings  shov  that  more  than  hrtlf  of  this  may  find 
its  way  into  the  sewers.  Formulas  covering  practical^ 
all  the  factors  involved  have  been  devised  by  sanitaiy 
engineers.*  The  volume  to  be  carried  and  the  grade  of 
the  sewer  being  once  deterromed,  the  proper  sise  can  be 
easily  figured.  On  this  basis  the  sewer  pipe  from  an  ordi- 
nary dwelling  may  be  but  four  inches  in  diameter  and  yet 
provide  amply  for  all  outflow.  Sewers  in  the  streets  range 
all  the  way  from  six  or  eight  inches  to  many  feet  in  diam- 
eter, according  to  the  estimated  work  which  thty  are 
expected  to  do. 

Sewers  may  be  cleansed  either  by  flushing— that  is,  by  the 
introduction  of  clean  water  at  considerable  velocity — or  by 
the  use  of  mechanical  devices  for  removing  soUd  wastes. 
Flushing  may  be  undertaken  from  a  flush  tank  or  by  means 
of  a  hose  put  into  the  sewer  at  a  manhole  Manholes  are 
openings,  designed  for  purposes  of  inspect  m  and  cleaning, 

« See  Metoalf  and  Eddy,  AmeritMn  Sevmage  Praaiee,  vol.  i,  oh.  v!J 


WASTE  DISPOSAL  AND  SEWERAGE 


188 


set  at  various  points  along  the  sewer,  particularly  whe-<e 
a  main  changes  direction  or  where  for  some  other  reason 
cloy;ing  is  liable  to  take  place.  The  covers  of  mrnholes 
are  usually  perforated  to  allow  ventilation.  Sanitary  ex- 
perts have  shattered  a  popular  delusion,  however,  by 
assuring  us  that  there  is  no  '  ich  thing  as  "sewer  gas"  or 
any  other  specific  gas  originating  in  sewer  mains.  The 
percentage  of  solid  matter  in  sewage  is  so  small  that,  if 
kept  moving,  it  rarely  pollutes  the  air;  it  is  only  when  a 
sluggish  flow  or  a  stoppage  of  the  stream  permits  organic 
decomposition  that  offensive  odors  are  emitted  from  sewers. 
Manholes  should  be  distinguished  from  catch-basins,  which 
are  pockets  placed  at  intervals  in  those  sewers  which  cany 
off  rainfall  for  the  purpose  of  preventing  street  dirt  from 
entering  the  mains.  Street  refur  linds  its  way,  with  the 
rainfall  surface  water,  along  the  gutters  to  the  catch-basin, 
and  is  held  there  while  the  water  goes  on  its  way  into  the 
sewers.  These  basins  are  cleaned  out  at  intervals  and  the 
contents  carted  away  either  by  city  employees  or  by  those 
who  do  the  cleaning  imder  contract  with  the  city.  Con- 
tracts for  this  work  have  been  a  prolific  source  of  waste  and 
crookedness,  as  more  than  one  city  has  found  out  to  its 
costly  enlightenment.'^ 

To  provide  an  adequate  sewer  system  of  modem  con- 
struction is  a  veiy  expensive  undertaking.  A  great  city  '^^J^SSi"' 
requires  many  huiulred  miles  of  sewer  conduits ;  New  York  * 
has  now  over  two  thousand  miles,  Chicago  nearly  as  many, 
Philadelphia  almost  twelve  hundred,  and  Boston  about 
eight  hundred.  The  costliness  of  sewers  per  mile  depends 
of  course  on  many  factors,  —  on  the  size  and  material  of 
the  mains,  the  depth  of  the  excavation  necessary,  and  the 
geological  formations  through  which  the  sewers  pass.  In- 
asmuch, therefore,  as  street  sewers  range  from  a  few 
inches  to  many  feet  in  diameter  and  are  laid  anywhere 

'  For  exami^  im  Boiton  FioMioe  Commiaiion.  ReporU,  iii.  78&-834 
(1909). 


•yilaoi. 


190     PiJNCIPLBS  OF  MXJNIOIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

from  five  to  fifteen  feet  below  the  surface,  through  clay, 
Bchist,  gravel,  or  solid  rock,  the  expense  runs  up  and 
down  a  sliding  scale.  Under  ordinary  conditions  the  coit 
for  materials  and  labor  may  vary  all  the  way  from 
less  than  fifty  cents  to  nearly  five  dollars  per  lineal 
foot;  if  the  pipes  are  very  large  and  the  trenches  deep 
it  may  be  much  higher.*  These  figures  do  not  include 
the  cost  of  manholes,  catch-basins,  ventilators,  flushing 
appliances,  or  pumping  apparatus  (when  this  is  necessaiy). 
If  there  are  several  cities  or  towns  in  the  same  area,  the  cost 
may  be  somewhat  lessened  by  the  common  use  of  a  few  large 
trunk  sewers  into  which  each  may  empty  the  flow  from  its 
street  mains.  This  is  the  plan  that  has  been  ursued  by 
the  municipalities  of  the  B<»ton  metropolitan  district. 


Hie  metro- 
politan 
■ewer 
■y>temof 
Boeton. 


THB  SEWERAGB  STSTEM  OF  METBOFOLITAN  BOflfTON 

More  than  twenty  yaem  ago  the  legislature  of  Massa- 
chusetts requested  the  State  Board  of  Health  to  investigate 
the  question  of  establishing  a  comprehensive  system  of 
sewerage  for  Boston  and  thirty  surrounding  municipalities. 
This  commission  studied  the  whole  problem  carefully,  and 
in  1895  presented  a  report  which  has  since  become  famous 
as  an  example  of  courageous  sanitary  planning.'  In  accord- 
ance with  its  recommendation  a  permanent  MetropoUtan 
Sewerage  Board  was  established,  with  power  to  construct  a 
system  of  main  drainage  for  the  whole  district,  which  com- 
prises an  area  of  nearly  two  hundred  square  miles  and  in- 
cludes about  a  million  of  population.  The  new  board  was 
authorized  to  finance  the  undertaking  by  the  issue  of  bonds. 
The  work  has  been  carried  on  steadily,  till  there  are  now  in 
the  district  about  one  hundred  and  ten  miles  of  tmnk  mains 

>  Tables  showing  detailed  cost  of  excavation  and  of  mateiials  an  givot 
in  Leonard  Metcalf  and  H.  P.  Eddy's  American  Srmrage  PraeHet,  ii. 
151-194.  .    ^         .  „    ^ 

>  Massachusetts  State  Board  of  Health,  Tutntft-nxik  Annwd  Bapm: 
Water  Supply  and  Sewage  (Boston,  1895). 


WASTB  DI8P0BAL  AND  SKWBRAOI 


191 


and  nearly  twelve  hundred  nules  of  local  or  municipal  sewers 
Only  the  trunk  mains  are  nnder  the  iuriadiction  of  the  Met- 
ropoUtan  Board ;  the  local  sewers  are  constructed  and  mam- 
tained  by  the  various  cities  and  towns  that  make  up  the 
district,  the  function  of  the  metropoUtan  mains  being  merely 
to  take  the  outflow  from  these  local  conduits  and  carry  it  mto 
the  sea.    About  one  hundred  miUion  gaUons  of  sewage  per 
day  are  disposed  of  in  this  way,  or  about  one  hundred  gaUons 
per  capita  for  the  entire  area.    The  total  cost  of  the  trunk 
sewers,  together  with  the  pumping  appUanoes,  has  been 
about  fifteen  miffions,  or  one  hundred  and  forty  thousand 
doUars  per  mile.    Members  of  the  MetropoUtan  Sewerage 
Board  (wMch  in  1901  was  combined  with  tl>  MetropoUtan 
Water  Board)  are  appointed  by  the  governor  of  Massachu- 
setts, and  the  cost  of  maintaining  the  trunk  sewer  system 
(including  interest  on  the  cost  of  construction),  which 
amounts  to  nearly  a  miUion  doUars  per  year,  is  pro-rated 
among  the  various  cities  and  towns.    Besides  planning  the 
metropoUtan  sewerage  system,   the  Massachusetts   state 
health  authorities  have  also  become  widely  known  and  have 
made  notable  contributions  to  sanitary  science  through  the 
experiments  carried  on  under  their  auspices  at  the  Lawrence 
experiment  station.    It  is  here  more  than  anywhere  else  in 
America  that  early  progress  in  estabUshing  the  general 
principles  of  biological  sewage  treatment  was  achieved. 

THE  SEWBB8  OF  PABIB 

In  the  matter  of  providing  efficient  systems  of  sewage 
collection,  however,  the  larger  cities  of  Europe  have  for  the  bJp^ 
most  part  been  far  ahead  of  American  municipalities.    Of  pUn. 
the  many  European  sewerage  systwns  that  of  Paris  is  the 
most  elaborate  and  the  best  known.    Many  Americans 
have  derived  their  notions  concerning  Parisian  sewers  from 

« A  general  deseription  of  this  work  may  be  found  in  the  h«H^  of  ^th'a 
unttal  report  for  1908,  entitled  "A  Review  of  TwentyK)ne  ¥«»»  Ej^en- 
menta  upon  the  Purifloation  of  Sewage"  (Boeton,  1909),  pp.  251-838. 


Uieofthe 
•ewenby 
publio 
tttOitiw 


193     PtUNCIPLRH  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

Hugo's  immortal  story  of  Jean  Valjean ;  but  that  wan  the 
Paris  of  more  than  a  century  ago.  In  the  period  of  the 
Seconi  Empire,  and  particularly  during  the  decade  1860- 
1870,  a  magnificent  plan  of  sewage  collection  was  derised 
and  carried  to  completion  by  the  famous  reconstructors  of 
Paris,  M.  Belgrand  and  Baron  Haussmann.  The  bans  d 
the  system  consists  of  three  great  trunk  sewers  (eoUeeUun), 
one  following  each  bank  of  the  Seine  and  the  third  travers- 
ing the  Montmartre  district  of  the  city.  These  trunk  sewers 
are  tunnels  of  arched  masonry  built  before  the  heyday  of 
reinforced  concrete.  They  are  of  horseshoe  shape,  from 
fifteen  to  twenty  feet  in  diameter.  The  sewage  flows  in  a 
five-foot  gutter  at  the  bottom,  and  above  this  gutter  Uiere 
is  a  projecting  footpath  (about  two  feet  wide)  on  each  side 
of  the  sewer.* 

Near  the  top  of  the  tunnels  are  galleries  that  carry  the 
city's  water  conduits,  the  electric  telegraph  and  telephone 
wires,  the  pneumatic  postal  tubes,  and  the  pipes  that  eon- 
duct  compressed  air  for  power.  The  plan  of  using  the 
trunk  sewers  for  these  pipes  and  wires  is  a  Parisian  idea 
which  has  not  yet  found  adoption  in  many  other  cities 
because  it  involves  such  heavy  expense  at  the  outset ;  but 
it  has  many  great  advantages  in  the  way  of  making  pipes 
and  wires  accessible  for  repair  without  the  necessity  of  tear- 
ing up  the  streets.  For  the  use  of  the  tunnels  by  the  various 
pipe  and  wire  utilities  an  annual  miieaj^  rental  is  charged. 
The  gus  mains  of  Paris  are  not  carried  into  the  sewer  gal- 
leries, because  of  the  possible  danger  from  explosion  that 
would  thereby  be  involved;  they  are  laid  under  the  side* 
walks.  Trips  of  inspection  through  the  trunk  sewers  are 
made  by  the  oflScials  in  an  electric  motor  boat,  and  visitors 
to  Paris  who  obtain  permission  to  accompany  them  find 
the  experience  instructive  without  bdng  in  any  way  un- 
pleasant. 

■  A  full  deaoription  may  be  found  in  Jofat  Herriea'a  TraUi  pratitm 
de  la  eonatrueHon  det  igoult  (Puis,  1S97). 


WA8TI  DIBPOHAL  AND  BIWCRAOB 


198 


Hm  ordinuy  itreet  lewen  are  mueh  unaller  th.ia  the 
trunk  lines,  of  eoune,  but  none  h»ve  »  diuneter  ai  lees 
than  six  feet.  They  are  of  egg-ehaped  oonttruotion,  with  a 
■ingle  narrow  footpath.  All  the  eonduita,  whether  large  or 
Bmall,  are  well  ventilated,  and  the  minor  ones  are  kept 
clean  by  a  system  of  flushing-reservoirs  that  work  auto- 
matically. The  total  length  of  the  Paris  scwen  is  abfwt 
seven  hundred  and  twenty-five  miles,  **  ^ch  ah(  it 
seventy-five  miles  are  trunk  sewers.  T  litest  is 
Clichy  sewer,  which  is  over  thirty  feet  in  I  di  a^  aboK^ 
sixteen  feet  high  m  by  5  metres).  O  ne  tksusMK 
workmen  are  employed  in  the  entire  sew  -*^  ^'^^Ml  IV 
cost  was  about  thirty-five  million  dollars 


THS  CHICAGO  tSTBTtM. 

One  of  the  largest  sewerage  undertak  in  *  ovttAry 
is  that  of  the  Chicago  Sanitary  Distri*  In  Ins;  a  b««Kt 
of  trustees  was  put  in  control  of  the  city  and  adj  J'  vi»t  tvrri- 
tories,  —  with  a  jurisdiction  that  now  \tes^  a\  «t  an  area 
of  nearly  four  hundred  square  mike.  —  ch  tk« 

problem  of  handling  the  district's  '■    >rmct  =  o^waie 

of  sewage  without  endangering  the  water  il>  wh  h 
Chicago  and  neighboring  communities  dr»w  nm  T  ake 
Michigan.^  Under  the  management  of  t  >>«^iiii  ^ 
flow  of  the  Chicago  River,  which  formerly  carm  cit3r*s 

sewage  to  Lake  Michigan,  was  reversed.  It  i  passes 
through  a  great  drainage  canal  for  a  distance  ol  thirty 

miles  to  Joliet,  where  it  reaches  the  Des  Plaineb  ^  sr  and 
passes  thence  to  the  Illinois,  by  which  it  ultimately  makes 
its  way  to  the  Mississippi  and  the  sea.  The  Chicago  drain- 
age canal  has  a  varying  width,  but  is  nowhere  narrower  than 
one  hxmdred  and  sixty  feet.    It  was  ten  years  in  building, 

'  Isham  Randolpfa,  Tke  Sanitary  DUtriet  ef  Ckieag»,  and  the  Chicago 
Drainage  Canal;  a  Review  of  Twenty  Yean  ej  Bngineeriitg  Work  (Chioaco, 
1909).  This  pamphlet  of  thirtera  pace*  givM  a  good  tommary  td  tha 
undertakmg. 


TVSii^ 
tary  Di»- 
titotof 
ChiMjn 


194     PRINCIPLB  or  MUNICIPAL  ADMINWnUTION 


The  prob- 
lem of  ulti- 
mate diii- 
poaal. 


•nd  the  eoft  of  the  entire  undertaking,  including  the  deep* 
ening  of  riven  and  the  oonitruetion  of  looks,  danu,  and 
power  plants  to  wpply  eleotrio  current,  amounted  to  about 
thirty-five  million  dollars.  The  work,  moreover,  provides 
the  first  link  in  a  proposed  navigable  channel  from  Lake 
Michigan  to  th  s  Mississippi.  The  authorities  of  the  Chicago 
Sanitary  District,  it  should  be  explained,  however,  have 
nothing  directly  to  do  with  the  city's  own  networic  d 
sewers. 

During  the  ten  years  before  the  opening  of  the  drainage 
canal  (January,  1900)  the  average  typhoid  death-rate  of 
Chicago  was  about  sixty-five  per  thousand;  in  the  Uan 
years  after  1900  it  averaged  less  than  twenty-four  per  thou- 
sand, a  decrease  of  nearly  60  per  cent.  Not  all  of  this 
decline,  of  course,  has  been  due  to  the  improved  protection 
which  the  new  channel  affords  to  the  city's  water  supply, 
but  some  of  it  can  properly  be  attributed  to  that  work. 
There  is  some  doubt,  however,  as  to  whether  the  canal 
will  ultimately  prove  adequate,  because  of  the  limit  placed 
by  the  federal  authorities  on  the  amount  of  water  that  may 
be  taken  from  the  lake.  There  is  also  a  serious  question  ss 
to  whether  the  protection  now  aflPorded  to  the  v.  ater  supply 
of  Chicago  is  at  all  secure.' 

SEWAGE  DISPOSAL 

When  a  city  has  provided  itself  with  a  satisfactory  system 
of  sewage  collection,  its  problems'  are  only  half  solved. 
Quite  as  difficult  and  even  more  important  is  the  task  of 
putting  this  enormous  voliune  of  disease-laden  waste  where 
it  can  do  no  harm.  The  general  problem  is  to  get  rid  of  the 
sewage  (1)  without  danger  to  the  public  health,  (2)  with 
the  least  possible  discomfort  or  mconvenience  to  the  people 

>  See  O.  A.  Soper  and  othors,  Report  to  the  Chicago  Real  SeUUe  Board 
on  the  Diapoud  of  Sewage  and  the  ProteUUm  of  the  Water  Supply  «f  CMeof* 
(Chicago,  1015). 


WA8TI  DI8P(MAL  AND  tlWBItAOII 


196 


in  any  aeetion  of  the  eity,  (3)  with  the  ■nullest  amount  of 
damage  to  private  property,  and  (4)  at  no  greater  expenae 
than  is  absolutely  necessary.  To  reconcile  all  these  d^ 
mands  is  not  easy.  A  disposal  f^stem  that  is  proof  apdnst 
all  danger  is  apt  to  prove  inconvenient  in  othw  respects, 
as  well  as  very  expensive.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Mwage 
is  merely  screened  or  settled  before  being  discharged  into  a 
lake  or  river,  the  cost  will  be  low,  but  the  results  may  not 
bo  satisfactory.  There  is  substantial  agreement  among 
sanitary  engir«^rs  on  the  point  that  it  is  both  safer  and 
more  econom>'  •  filter  a  city's  water  supply  than  to  treat 
sewage .'  ughly  as  to  render  it  absolute^  harmless,  but 

the  gcner  public  has  not  yet  been  educated  to  a  proper 
appreciation,  of  that  policy. 

Many  coast  cities  both  in  America  and  abroad  empty 
their  sewage  into  the  sea.  On  the  whole  this  is  a  reason-  ''''''*'^|^ 
ably  safe  method  of  disposal  if  the  mains  are  carried  far  tb*Ma. 
enough  seaward,  though  some  of  the  polluted  water  is 
liable,  under  certain  conditions  of  wind  and  tide,  to  make  its 
way  back  to  oyster  beds  or  bathing  beaches.'  But  this  is 
a  matter  in  which,  as  experience  shows,  a  dty  may  success- 
fully take  its  chances  for  a  long  period  of  years,  and  the 
plan  of  sea  disposal  has  at  least  the  advantage  of  being  rela- 
tively inexpensive  and  tmobJMStionable  to  any  partictilar 
section  of  a  large  community.  The  dangers  involved  are 
of  minor  consequence  when  compared  with  those  that  arise 
from  the  equally  common  practice  of  turning  a  city's  sewage 
into  bodies  of  fresh  water,  such  as  lakes  or  rivers. 

When  sewage  is  emptied  into  a  lake  or  a  river  the  degree 
of  peril  to  the  public  health  depends  upon  the  size  and  2^^"* 
velocity  of  the  watercourse  and  upon  the  extent  to  which 


the  wa^c;  U  used  after  pollution. 


water 

If  the  sewage  of  a  large  ■*»•»"*• 


'  S  '->  Uie  aoB  j.:i  .import  of  th*  MMMehoactta  CommiMtoiMn  on  Fish 
and  Q.>  fie  fot  19u4 ;  iUw  tbe  arttole  by  O.  A.  Sopw  <»i  tlt»  «iMeinio  »( 
Lawn  .'0,  -  ~,-^  I:ii'  >id,  i>-  MkUeal  Nem,  Ixnvi.  241-253  (Febrosry  11, 
1905; 


mi 

ix  i  ■ 


196     PRINCIPLES  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

community  is  discharged  into  a  relatively  small  stream 
which  serves  other  places  farther  down,  there  is  every 
chance  of  serious  trouble ;  but  if  the  watercourse  is  large 
the  danger  decreases  as  dilution  becomes  greater,  until 
imder  certain  favorable  conditions  it  may  become  almost 
inappreciable,  though  it  never  disappears  altogether.  Most 
American  cities,  large  and  small,  dispose  of  their  sewage  in 
this  way,  but  many  of  them  pass  all  or  part  of  it  through 
a  process  of  screening,  settling,  or  other  such  treatment 
before  discharging  it  into  the  water.  Chicago  still  empties 
some  of  its  effluvia  into  Lake  Michigan,  but  the  greater 
part,  as  already  mentioned,  it  sends  by  way  of  the  great 
drainage  canal  to  the  Des  Plaines  and  lUinois  rivers,  whence 
the  sewage  makes  its  way  to  the  Mississippi.  When  this 
latter  policy  was  first  adopted  by  Chicago  fifteen  years  ago, 
the  state  of  Missouri  sought  an  injunction  to  restrain  the 
city  from  thus  polluting  the  Father  of  Waters,  alleging  that 
the  water  supply  of  St.  Louis  was  being  contaminated.  The 
suit  maae  its  way  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  which  held  that  pollution  of  sufficient  magnitude, 
if  proved,  would  undoubtedly  be  a  proper  ground  for  the 
issue  of  an  injunction.*  It  ruled,  however,  that  no  con- 
tamination of  fl  serious  nature  had  been  shown,  th6  water 
distance  between  Chicago  and  St.  Louis  being  three  hun- 
dred and  fifty-seven  miles ;  and  it  further  laid  emphasis  on 
the  fact  that  Missouri  "did  not  seek  eqiiity  with  clean 
hands,"  inasmuch  as  the  state  was  at  the  very  same  time 
peimitting  St.  Louis  and  Kansas  City  to  empty  their 
own  sewage  directly  into  the  Mississippi  to  the  detri- 
ment of  New  Orleans  and  other  cities  farther  down  the 
stream.* 

>  The  record  of  this  famoua  case,  with  its  reports  of  analyses,  opinions 
of  sanitary  experts,  etc.,  oooupies  about  eight  thousand  printed  pages.  A 
digest  of  the  entire  evidence,  made  by  M.  O.  Leighton,  has  been  issued  by 
the  United  States  Geological  Survey,  ITater-tuppIy  and  /rrtfolion  Popsr, 
No.  194. 

*  Misw>uri  0.  nUnds.  180  C^.  5.  208;  s. o.  202  V.  8.  508. 


WASTE  DISPOSAL  AND  SEWERAQE 


197 


When  cities  are  located  near  each  other  on  the  same  lake 
or  river,  the  practice  of  turning  untreated  sewage  adrift  is 
almost  sure  to  be  fraught  with  dangw.  Yet  too  often  it  has 
been  customary  to  discharge  sewage  into  the  nearest  avail- 
able lake  or  stream  imtil  the  nuisance  became  intolerable  to 
the  offending  city  itself,  and  thea,  when  possible,  to  divert 
it  to  some  other  point  where  it  mi^t  prove  an  equal  nui- 
sance to  neighboring  communities,—  a  negation  of  the  Golden 
Rule  that  has  resulted  in  a  great  deal  of  ill  feeling  and  liti- 
gation. Within  the  last  two  decades,  however,  this  situation 
has  been  greatly  improved.  There  are  now  in  the  United 
States  nearly  five  hundred  municipal  plants  for  the  treat- 
ment of  sewage,  and  they  represent  every  possible  plan  of 
disposal.* 

HOW  SEWAGE  IB  TREATED 

It  is  quite  possible  to  purify  sewage  so  as  to  make  it  en- 
tirely innocuous,  but  in  view  of  the  enormous  output  which  v«rio«i 
a  city  provides  each  day  it  is  very  expensive  to  attempt  S!S^v 
anything  of  the  sort.  Complete  purification  is  seldom  under- 
taken and  still  more  seldom  accomplished.  It  is  not,  there- 
fore, the  aim  of  the  so-termed  purification  enterpris'^  to  work 
the  magic  of  transforming  sewage  into  pure  water,  oreveninto 
something  that  may  with  safety  bo  put  into  direct  contact  with 
water  intended  for  human  consumption.  The  real  object  is 
merely  to  take  most  of  the  offensiveness  out  of  the  sewage  in 
order  that  the  latter  may  cause  no  nuisance  and  do  no  harm 
so  long  as  it  is  kept  away  from  the  direct  sources  of  water  sup- 
ply. The  disposal  of  sewage  by  dilution  in  volumes  of  water 
adequate  to  prevent  nuisance  is  a  method  which  still  has  its 
friends  among  sanitary  engineers.  Nature  has  provided 
the  necessary  oxygen,  bacteria,  and  Crustacea  in  watercourses 
to  take  care  of  sewage  if  they  are  given  a  fair  chance.  But 
if  too  much  sewage  is  discharged  into  a  small  body  of  water 

lOM^  '""j^fiiLf^^*^*  Mtmieipof  Jomnal,  xxxvi.  89&-(K)5  (June  18, 
1914),  ud  BQjvii.  229-232  (Auciut  20.  1914). 


198     PRINCIPLES  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


(l)by 
■craening; 


the  available  oxygen  will  be  overtaxed  and  putrefaction  will 
be  the  result.  Hence  it  is  that  cities  which  have  large  quan- 
tities of  liquid  waste  must  usually  treat  it  in  some  way  to  re- 
duce the  amount  of  solid  matter  in  it  before  turning  the 
sewage  into  a  lake  or  a  stream.  A  moment's  reflection  will 
show  that  all  liquid  sewage  from  inland  cities  must  somehow 
or  other  get  to  a  watercourse  eventually,  and  hence  that  the 
complete  protection  of  all  streams  and  lakes  against  the 
entry  of  any  such  liquid  is  practically  impossible.  The  only 
question,  therefore,  is  what  degree  of  treatment  must  be 
imdertaken  in  order  to  secure  results  reasonably  below  the 
nuisance  point.  Such  results  at  least  a  dozen  plans  profess 
to  accomplish.  Each  of  these  methods  will  be  very  briefly 
described  in  the  next  few  paragraphs.' 

The  most  elementaiy  method  of  treating  sewage  is  by 
screening,  a  process  which  is  widely  used  in  Germany  and 
which  has  more  recently  come  to  be  employed  in  this  country. 
Fine  screens  of  metal  are  used  to  catch  the  solids  while  the 
liquid  flows  through.  The  screenings  are  incinerated  or 
otherwise  disposed  of,  while  the  liquid  is  passed  on  to  a 
watercourse  either  with  or  without  further  treatment.  At 
Dresden,  Germany,  for  example,  nearly  twenty-seven  million 
gallons  of  sewage  per  day  are  dealt  with  in  this  way  before 
being  turned  into  the  Elbe.  The  practice  of  passing  the 
sewage  into  grit  chambers,  where  the  heavy  inorganic  matter 
such  as  sand  and  silt  from  the  streets  is  allowed  tr  settle, 
has  also  been  extensively  pursued  abroad.  But  neither  the 
screening  nor  the  grit-chamber  process  is  regarded  as  a 


>  Standard  works  on  sewage  treatment  are  Leonard  Metoalf  and  H.  P. 
Eddy's  American  Sewerage  Procttes  (3  vols.,  New  York,  1914-  ),  voL 
iii ;  O.  W.  Fuller's  Seteage  Ditpoeal  (New  York,  1912) ;  O.  B.  Kershaw's 
Modern  Method*  of  Sewage  Purifieation  (New  York,  1911) ;  M.  N.  Baker's 
Sewerage  and  Sewage  Purifieation  (4th  ed.,  New  York,  1907) ;  and  L.  P. 
Kinnicutt,  C.-E.  A.  Winslow,  and  P.  W.  Pratt's  Sewage  Dispotal  (New 
York,  1910).  A  good  non-teohnioal  description  of  the  various  methods, 
based  on  recent  data,  will  be  found  in  the  serUJ  article  on  "Sewage  Usposai 
Plants,"  by  F.  E.  Daniels,  in  the  Municipal  Journal,  voL  SDtvi  pa—im 
(January-August,  1914). 


WASTE  DISPOSAL  AND  SEWERAGE 


199 


complete  method  of  sewage  treatment.  Both  merely  aim 
to  remove  the  heavier  solids  so  that  what  remains  in  the 
sewage  may  be  the  more  readily  disposed  of  by  dilution  or 
in  some  other  way. 

Then  there  are  various  schemes  of  sewage  treatment  by 
sedimentation.  This  consists  in  passing  the  sewage  through 
reservoirs  or  basins  where  its  flow  is  delayed  long  enough 
to  allow  the  solid  matter  to  subside  or  drop  to  the  bottom, 
where  it  forms  a  "sludge."  This  settling  process  may  be 
hastened  by  the  use  of  chemicals.  lime  is  commonly  used 
for  the  purpose,  but  salts  of  iron  or  other  chemicals  which 
form  a  flocculent  precipitate  will  serve.  London  disposes 
of  its  sewage  by  this  process  of  chemical  precipitation;  the 
"sludge"  is  taken  out  to  sea  and  dumped  overboard;  the 
effluent  goes  into  the  Thames,  where  the  oxidizing  power  of 
the  great  tidal  volume  is  dep^ded  upon  to  render  it  ulti- 
mately harmless.  Worcester  and  Providence  afford  ex- 
amples of  the  same  process  in  this  country. 

An  objectionable  feature  of  the  sedimentation  process  is 
the  difficulty  of  handling  the  sludge ;  hence  there  was  de- 
vised  a  plan  of  storing  the  sewage  in  what  have  been  com- 
monly known  as  septic  tanks,  the  purpose  being  to  secure  a 
reduction  in  the  quantity  of  the  sludge  by  decomposition. 
The  original  tanks  or  reservoirs  of  this  type  did  not  prove 
satisfactory  because  the  decomposing  sludge  gave  rise  to 
foul  odors.  Accordingly  improvements  were  made  to  per- 
mit sedimentation  in  one  compartment  of  the  tank  and  the 
decomposition  of  the  sludge  in  another.  Two-story  tanks 
of  this  sort,  known  as  Emsoher  or  Imhoff  tanks,  are  widely 
used  in  Germany  and  to  some  extent  in  the  United  States. 
The  sludge  that  remains  in  the  septic  tanks  must  be  cleaned 
out  from  time  to  time. 

Another  method  of  treating  sewage  is  to  dispose  of  it 
upon  land  provided  for  the  purpose  and  not  used  for  culti- 
vation. There  are  three  ways  of  doing  this.  The  first 
one,  known  as  intermittent  tand  filtration,  consists  in  apply- 


(2)b3rsedi- 
mentation; 


(3)  bjr  tiM ' 
wptio-taak 


t4)iqriiH 

termittiirt 

filtntlaa. 


(S)  by  oon- 
tMtbeda; 


^^^^^^^^^m^. 


200     PRINCIPLBS  OF  M17NICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

ing  relatively  small  amounts  of  sewage  to  areas  of  porous 
soil  or  sand  and  repeating  the  dose  at  intervals.  A  tract 
of  land  is  secured,  —  about  one  acre  for  every  seven  hundred 
and  fifty  population,  —  and  in  this  area  beds  or  shallow 
reservoirs  three  to  five  feet  deep  are  prepared  and  properly 
underdrained.  The  beds  are  then  filled  with  sand.  Over 
this  sand  the  sewage  flows  by  gravity  or  is  pumped.  Each 
bed  is  dosed  with  sewage  in  turn  and  is  allowed  to  rest 
an  interval  imtil  it  becomes  dty  again,  when  the  process  is 
repeated.^  In  hot,  dry  weather  the  plan  works  pretty  well ; 
in  winter  and  wet  weather  it  often  gives  trouble.'  A  plant 
of  this  sort  will  handle  about  seventy-five  thousand  gallons 
of  ordinary  sewage  to  the  acre,  although  of  course  much 
depends  on  the  quality  of  the  sand  and  the  strength  of  the 
sewage. 

Another  plan  is  to  treat  the  sewage  on  what  are  known 
as  contact  beds,  or  water-tight  reservoirs  partly  filled  with 
slag,  coke,  stone,  cinders,  or  other  coarse  material  to  the 
depth  of  five  or  six  feet.  These  beds  are  filled  with  sewage, 
which  is  left  to  stand  in  contact  for  a  few  hours  and  thm 
is  drained  off  from  below,  the  beds  remaining  empty  for  a 
while.  The  effluent  is  run  off  into  some  neighboring  water- 
course, and  the  process  may  be  repeated  several  times  a 
day.  The  best  results  are  obtained  from  having  two  sets 
of  contact  beds,  primary  and  secondary,  tiie  sewage  being 
allowed  to  pass  through  both  after  it  has  been  previously 

*  The  process  eoiudsts  in  aDowinff  sewafe  to  nnuuin  in  the  pons  of  ths 
Muid  filter  long  enough  to  permit  otrntaet  with  the  air  to  tarn  its  deeemH 
posable  oiganio  matter  into  nitrates.  The  upt^eaition  of  sewage  most  be 
intermittent,  otherwise  the  exolosron  of  ab  would  prevent  niteiiksatioa  and 
the  wh(de  bed  would  socm  beoome  a  putrefying  mass.  Intermittent  lUtan 
are  in  operation  in  several  MassBohuaetts  oitiea,  inoluding  BroektM, 
Framingham,  and  Pittsfield. 

*  These  diiBoulties  have  been  overoome  by  th<)  {dan  of  jdon^iiivt  the 
Buifaoe  of  the  filter  eaeh  autumn.  Muoh  bettor  reralte,  on  the  whoU,  are 
gained  by  the  use  of  some  preliminary  sediniMitotion  before  the  sewage 
is  apolied  to  the  sand  beds.  liberal  intervals  of  rest  are  ahn  of  great 
imp«..-tanoe.  With  inopar  manij^ikktion  the  intermittent  sand  illtsr  wffl 
do  "-  vork  with  a  very  high  de^«e  of  ^BoiMiqr. 


WA8TB  DISPOSAL  AND  SBWBRAGI 


201 


held  for  a  time  in  a  settling  besin.  Such  a  procesB  renders 
ordinary  sewage  non-putresc  ible  and  odoriess,  besides 
denuding  it  of  bacterial  content  to  the  extent  of  about 
80  per  cent.  Contact  beds  will  dispose  of  about  six  hun- 
dred thousand  gallons  per  acre  daily.* 

Then  there  is  the  so-termed  percolating  or  sprinkling-JUter 
system,  which  uses  a  contact  bed  upon  a  sloping  floor  with  m  *v 
underdrains  and  not  necessarily  water-tight.  The  sewage  Swif^ 
is  applied  through  sprinklers  or  noules  that  make  a  rain- 
like distribution  all  over  the  surface  of  the  beds.  From 
the  joint  viewpoints  of  economy  and  relative  efficiency, 
this  is  regarded  as  the  most  modem  as  well  as  the  best  of 
the  three  plans  for  removing  putrescible  matter  from 
liquid  and  allowing  nitrification  to  go  on  under  favorable 
conditions.  Sprinkling  filters  will  take  care  of  over  two 
million  gallons  of  sewage  daily  per  acre.  But  no  sanitary 
expert  believes  that  even  the  sprinkling-filter  system  is 
all-sufficient  for  ranoving  noxious  bacteria  from  sewage. 
Under  the  usual  conditions  and  with  prior  sedimentation 
it  may  destroy  90  per  cent  of  them ;  but  even  that  elimina- 
tion might  easily  leave  a  hundred  thousand  bacteria  per 
cubic  centimeter  in  the  effluent.  Even  if  it  removed  97 
per  cent,  the  remaining  liquid  would  probably  contain 
noxious  bacteria  enough  to  render  it  dangerous.  But  the 
removal  of  bacteria  is  not,  in  the  great  majority  of  cases, 
the  prime  desideratum  in  the  design  of  a  sewage-treatment 
system.  The  avoidance  of  a  nuisance  is  usually  the  chief 
aim.  If,  moreover,  the  effluoit  be  disinfected  with  chloride 
of  lime  or  liquid  chlorine  after  it  has  finished  its  sprinkling- 
filter  process,  the  chances  of  danger  are  reduced  to  neariy 
zero.' 

A  method  of  sewage  disposal  which  is  used  on  a  large 

« This  qmtem  i«  uwd  in  Kircrton.  N.  Y.,  PtainlMd.  N.  J.,  Hotuton, 
Texas,  and  in  aerenl  odur  dtiM.  For  a  fnrOcr  Ifart.  ne  A.  P.  lUmlL 
Se-aerage  (New  YOTfc,  1810),  p.  433. 

r..  n  ^'"^  deaoriptimi  of  tlw  proeeM  ud  »  Ort  of  flitia  oiag  ft,  ne  O.  W. 
PuUw,  S«waiit  Diipemd  (New  Yofk,  1913),  Ol  xjA. 


{7)bjr 

bRMdiiri- 

■•tionor 

tiMMwace 

tana 

ajntam. 

TheMwv 

famiKrf 

Beriia. 


Thdr  nuia- 

•gement 

MidreMlU. 


202     PRIMCIPLBS  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

scale  abroad  but  which  has  had  Kttle  vogue  in  America  is 
^at  known  as  the  hroad^nigaHon  or  sewage-fann  plan. 
The  best  examples  of  this  plan  are  to  be  found  in  the  cities 
of  Berlin  and  Paris,  both  of  which  dispose  of  neariy  all  their 
sewage  in  that  way.    Berlin's  system  of  sewage  collection 
and  disposal  was  devised  by  Hobiecht  in  1873.    The  dty 
IS  divided  into  twelve  radial  districts  and  the  sewage  of 
each  district  is  conducted  by  gravity  to  a  central  point. 
At  each  of  these  central  stations  there  is  a  pumping  plant 
which  forces  it  through  large  mains  out  to  the  farms  be- 
yond  the  city  limits.    These  farms  are  composed  of  land  pur- 
chased by  the  city  from  time  to  time  during  the  last  forty 
years— usually  land  that  was  sandy  and  not  very  fertile  when 
acquired   or  very  expensive  to  buy.    They  he  some  to 
the  north  of  the  city  and  some  to  the  south  at  varying  dis- 
tances, some  coming  ahnost  to  the  suburban  limits,  others 
being  a  dozen  miles  away.    At  present  their  entire  area 
18  about  forty-five  square  miles  and  there  is  a  population  of 
nearly  forty  thousand  living  upon  them.    When  the  sewage 
reaches  the  farms  it  enters  a  reservoir  or  standpipe,  from 
which  It  IS  conducted  by  mains  to  the  land.    From  the  pipe- 
valves  It  18  turned  into  smaU  open  ditches  which  run  through 
the  fields,  and  from  the  ditches  it  runs  down  into  the  furrows. 
Certam  parts  of  the  fields  are  so  laid  out  that  they  can  bo 
entirely  submerged  at  intervals,  if  necessary.    In  the  colder 
period  of  the  winter,  when  the  sewage  will  not  run  eaafly, 
It  18  stored  on  the  farms  in  reservoir  fields  provided  for  the 
purpose.    These  fields  are  also  cultivated  in  summer. 

Some  of  the  farms  are  managed  directly  by  the  city,  others 
are  rented.  Much  of  the  entire  area  is  in  meadow  and 
Hence  serves  as  pasturage ;  a  good  deal  of  it  is  used  in  the 
cultivation  of  fruit  trees ;  but  the  krger  part  is  devoted  to 
the  growing  of  grain,  fodder,  and  vegetables.  Part  of  the 
land  18  given  over  to  fish  ponds  suppUed  by  filtered  sewage. 
In  the  forty  years  during  which  the  farms  have  been  culti- 
vated there  has  been  no  indication  of  anything  dangerous 


WASn  DISPOSAL  AND  SBWERAOI 


aoB 


to  the  public  health ;  indeed,  to  the  passing  observer  there 
is  nothing  to  distinguish  these  farms  from  the  irrigated  lands 
of  the  American  West.    It  is  often  said  that  Berlin  makes 
an  annual  profit  from  its  sewage-oisposal  system,  and  it  is 
true  that  the  balance  sheets  of  this  municipal  department 
show  a  margin  of  income  over  all  fixed  and  running  expenses. 
The  real  explanation  of  this  profit-showing,  however,  lies 
in  the  fact  that  the  account  is  credited  with  the  large  sum 
that  comes  in  eveiy  year  as  the  proceeds  of  a  sewer  rate  or 
special  tax  which  is  laid  on  every  house  in  Berlin.    The  en- 
tire cost  of  the  Berlin  system,  including  sewers,  pumping 
stations,  farms,  and  buildings,  has  been  about  twenty-five 
million  dollars,  which  is  after  all  not  a  large  sum  for  so  great 
an  undertaking.    The  Metropolitan  Sewerage  Commission 
of  New  York  estimated  a  few  years  ago  that  the  expense  in- 
volved in  a  new  plant  for  conv^ing  that  city's  sewage  to 
farms  on  Long  Island  would,  exclusive  of  the  cost  of  land 
for  the  farms,  be  more  than  six  times  that  amount.    Al- 
though the  sewer-farm  system  appears  to  be  an  economical, 
efficient,  and  final  plan  of  sewage  disposal  under  some  con- 
ditions, the  enormous  initial  cost  renders  it  impracticable  in 
the  larger  American  cities  and  of  very  doubtful  expediency 
anywhere.* 

There  are  about  a  dosra  municipal  sewage  farms  in 
America,  but  all  of  them  are  small.  Los  Angeles  disposed  AmorioMi 
of  its  sewage  in  this  way  until  1905,  when,  on  completing  SlSf 
its  great  outfall  sewer  to  the  ocean,  it  sold  the  farms  for 
building  lots.  The  neighboring  city  of  Pasadena  still 
maintains  a  sewage  farm  of  some  four  himdred  and  sixty 
acres,  but  has  not  found  the  system  altogether  satisfactory 

'  For  a  detailed  aocotint  of  the  eariy  history  and  oquipment  of  the  ays- 
tem  Bee  the  long  paper  by  H.  A.  Roechling  on  "The  Sewage  Famu  of 

m^  M  ^?"^  "^  ^T'^^Tn^  '^  /»M«««on  of  CMl  Engineer,,  dx. 
170^(1892).  An  article  on  "The  Sewage  Farms  of  BerKn,"  by  Pnfea- 
SOTK.  C.  Brooks,  ia  the  PaUical  Seimet  Qvwierly,  xx.  2W-313  (Jam, 
1WJ&).  discusses  the  system  of  managemmt,  the  financial  results,  etc. 

Sladl  Bniin  (2  vrfs.,  Berlin.  1912),  i.  277-«)a.  "^^^ung  a«r 


(8)  othw 
methods  of 
Mwage 
diq>o«a. 


204     PRINCIPLES  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMIN  ISTRATIOK 

and  is  now  modifying  it  somewhat.  Salt  Lake  City  and 
Colorado  Springs  have  tried  the  plan  of  broad  irrigation, 
but  in  no  case  with  marked  success.  The  popular  prejudice 
in  this  country  against  iMsrmitting  the  sale  of  vegetables 
grown  on  sewage  farms  operates  heavily  against  an  extension 
of  the  system,  which  therefore,  since  it  has  not  proved  able 
to  pay  its  own  way,  seems  to  be  going  out  of  favor  here, 
except  perhaps  in  very  dry  regions  where  land  has  to  be 
irrigated  anyway.  An  acre  of  dry  soil  will  not  bear  good 
crops  if  it  is  treated  with  more  than  ten  thousand  gallons 
per  day  on  the  average,  whereas  an  ordinary  uncultivated 
sand  bed  of  equal  area  will  take  care  of  ten  times  that 
amount. 

All  the  foregoing  plans  of  sewage  disposal  are  recognised 
as  practical  and  reputable  methods,  but  chemical  precipita- 
tion is  out  of  favor  in  this  country,  and  broad  irrigation  has 
never  made  any  substantial  progress  here.    Treatment  by 
ozonisation  and  various  other  schemes  are  put  forward  by 
sanitary  promoting  companies  from  time  to  time,  but  they 
are  not  yet  recognized  as  dependable.*    New  forms  of  treat- 
ment by  aeration  are  obtaining,  at  present,  some  degree  of 
recognition.    Of  the  standard  processes — intermittent  sand 
filtration,  contact  beds,  and  sprinkling  or  trickling  filters  — 
no  one  can  be  categorically  declared  better  than  the  others 
under  all  circumstances.     The  sewage-disposal  problem  of 
every  city  must  have  its  own  special  study,  for  local  condi- 
tions differ  widely  eveiywhere.    The  strength  of  the  sewage, 
the  presence  of  trade  wastes  in  large  quantities,  the  climate, 
the  neighboring  soil,  the  adjacent  watereourses,  and  a  dozen 
other  factors  must  be  taken  into  account.    Moreover,  it  is 
not  necessary  and  usually  not  desirable  that  a  city  should 
use  one  method  only.    It  may  dispose  of  a  part  of  its  sewage 
in  one  way  and  a  part  in  another;   or  it  may  well  adopt  a 
simple  scheme  of  disposal  which  meets  the  needs  of  to-day 

'  The  procewea  are  deaoribed  by  G.  W.  Puller,  Stwagt  DUpo    ?  WeW 
York.  1912),  ehs.  xvi,  xxii.  rxiv,  xxvi. 


WAfiTB  DISPOflykL  AND  SKWIRAOI 


905 


and  then  elaborate  the  tjratem  in  various  directions  when 
the  new  demands  of  to-morrow  appear.'  In  fact,  it  is 
likely  to  obtain  the  most  economic  and  satisfactoiy  results 
by  combining  features  drawn  from  two  or  three  plans. 

For  these  several  systems  of  disposal  no  dependable 
figures  of  cost  can  be  set  forth.    A  considerable  part  of  the  H*"***^ 
outlay  is  represented  by  the  price  paid  for  Und,  an  item  ^^ 

which  of  course  varies  greatly  in  the  neighborhood  of  differ- 
ent cities.    Broad  irrigation  is  usualty  the  most  e^qiensive 
system  to  install.    Intermittent  sand  Altera,  contact  beds, 
and  sprinkling  Altera  are  usually  less  costly  in  the  order 
named,  as  regards  both  initial  outlay  and  operating  expense ; 
and  septic  treatment  and  sedimentation  are  -till  cheaper. 
Without  allowing  for  interest  upon  investment  and  annual 
additions  to  a  sinking  fund,  the  sprinkling-filter  system  can 
be  operated  at  a  cost  of  a  little  over  two  dollare  per  million 
gallons.    If  the  expense  of  the  beds  and  appliances  be  reck- 
oned e.t  an  average  of  forty  thousand  dollara  per  acre,  then 
SIX  to  eight  dollara  per  million  gallons  of  daily  capacity  may 
be  regarded  as  a  fair  estimate  of  the  total  cost  of  the  system. 
It  must,  however,  be  reiterated  that  local  conditions  vary  so 
greatly  as  to  preclude  much  approach  to  accuracy  in  such 
estimates.    Even  the  expert  sanitary  engineer  who  studies 
each  city's  problem  on  the  ground  very  often  makes  calcular 
tions  that  prove  to  be  wide  of  the  mark.' 

In  the  efficiency  of  their  sewage-disposal  plants  the  cities 
of  Europe  are  ahead  of  us,  and  this  is  true  not  only  of  the 
larger  but  of  the  smaller  municipaUties  as  weU.»    One  reason 

' "  ?^f*  "  no  •tondwd  metlrod  of  iMrooedure  tm  the  tewtment  of  mw- 
age  which  ew  be  mnformly  apidied  to  »  laise  numbw  of  problema  with 
a  view  to  seounog  ntiafaotory  hygie  ^vaulti  »t  leMt  eort.  Variona 
partml  meamires,  amngementi;  or  devio*.  f)  adtable  in  aome  eomUiia- 
tion  or  another  for  a  laige  number  of  problema.    But  then  ia  no  oure«U  or 

|Por  a  genoal  taUe  <rf  ooata.  see  ibid.,  243. 
■inH  tC    "?*  ^*'~«'*  «'«'  rr«fe  Report,,  iaaned  by  the  Bnieau  of  Foreign 
ana  Domestic  Commeroe  at  Waahington,  frequenUy  contain  deaoriptiona 


906     PRIKCIPLIS  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


Amerieui 
MidEuKH 
pMuiproc* 


is  that  the  ne«d  for  scientific  methods  became  acute  in 
Europe  at  an  earlier  date  than  in  the  United  States.  Urban 
communities  are  closer  together  there.  The  central  author* 
ities  of  England,  France,  and  Germany  long  ago  condemned 
the  practice  of  turning  untreated  city  sewage  into  rivers  and 
lakes ;  consequently  the  municipal  authorities  were  forced 
to  find  means  of  reducing  the  nuisance  created  by  that 
plan.  Since  in  America  the  state  health  boards  have  lacked 
either  the  power  or  the  courage  to  take  this  stand  until 
very  recent  years,  many  cities  still  go  on  polluting  our 
streams  in  a  manner  which  public  opinion  would  not  for  a 
moment  tolerate  in  European  lands.  Within  the  last  dosen 
years,  however,  this  situation  has  been  slowly  changii^^, 
as  is  diown,  for  example,  by  the  excellent  work  of  the  State 
Board  of  Health  in  Ohio,  and  it  is  altogether  likely  that  the 
next  decade  or  two  will  see  great  progress  in  the  art  of 
sanitary  sewage  disposal  throughout  the  United  States.  So 
far  as  scientific  knowledge  and  sanitary  skill  are  concerned, 
however,  America  is  and  for  some  time  has  been  quite  abreast 
of  Europe.  Some  of  the  world's  recognised  leaders  in  this 
branch  of  science  are  American  engineers.  As  a  pioneer  of 
scientific  sanitary  investigation,  indeed,  the  Lawrence  ex- 
periment station,  already  referred  to,  has  not  been  excelled  by 
any  European  institution.  Paradoxical  as  it  may  seem,  a 
country  which  has  in  many  respects  led  the  way  in  sewage 
disposal  as  a  science  has  lagged  far  behind  in  sewage  disposal 
as  a  practical  art. 

and  Btatiatios  <a  sewage-dispoul  undertakings  in  varioua  Etnopeui  oitiM. 
See,  for  example,  Re^^,  No.  61,  pp.  1281-1291  (Maroh  16,  1913),  and 
No.  29,  pp.  449-454  (February  4,  1914).  The  best  treatise  on  British 
sewage-disposal  methods  is  H.  Lemmoin-Cannon's  Taxt  Book  on  8eimit$ 
Diapotal  in  the  United  Kingdom  (London,  1912).  This  woric  is  based 
largely  on  the  material  gathered  by  the  Royal  Commission  on  Sewage 
Disposal,  which  was  established  in  1896  and  has  sinoe  issued  nine  reports 
of  formidable  dimensions.  These  reporto  contain  a  great  accumulation  of 
data  relating  to  wat«r  pollution,  trade  wastes,  and  se«rage-dispoaal  methods 
both  in  Eng^d  and  elsewhere. 


WA8TK  DISPOSAL  AND  UWIRAOS 


ao7 


■BWBRAOB  rOTANGB 

There  are  no  complete  and  accurate  figures  of  the  total 
mm  inveeted  by  American  dtiee  in  their  sewage  collection 
and  disposal  plants  to-day.  The  amount,  however,  must 
be  very  large;  in  1906  it  was  estimated  at  one  hundred 
millions  of  dollars,  but  it  must  now  be  double  that  sum. 
A  small  part  of  this  has  been  paid  out  of  current  revenue, 
and  by  many  cities  a  share  of  the  cost  of  laying  mains  has 
by  special  assessments  been  put  upon  the  owners  of  private 
property;  but  the  larger  portion  of  the  expenditure  has 
everywhere  been  met  by  the  issue  of  bonds.  In  ahnost 
eveiy  American  city  sewer  loans  have  been  an  annual  fea- 
ture of  municipal  finance.  The  bonds  have  been  issued 
for  terms  ranging  from  fifteen  to  forty  years,  and  as  a  rule 
their  payment  upon  maturity  has  been  provided  for  by 
sinking  funds.  Provision  of  this  kind  has,  however,  often 
proved  inadequate.  Moreover,  the  practice  of  running  sewer 
m  lins  along  new  streets  in  outlying  districts,  though  more 
oi  less  necessary,  has  been  so  costly  that  in  the  present 
huge  municipal  indebtedness  of  our  cities  the  sewer  loans 
have  come  to  form  a  large  item. 

The  annual  cost  of  a  sewerage  system,  including  interest 
on  bonds,  contributions  to  sinking  fund,  and  expense  of 
maintenance,  is  usually  borne  by  the  city  from  its  general 
revenue.  In  some  foreign  cities,  particuUvly  in  those  of 
the  German  Empire,  it  is  the  custom  to  levy  a  sewerage 
rate  on  each  house-owner  in  much  the  same  way  as  we  col- 
lect water  rates  in  this  country.  The  usual  plan  is  to  base 
this  charge  upon  the  frontage  of  the  property,  or  on  the 
number  and  size  of  the  connections  between  the  building 
and  the  sewer,  or  on  the  rental  value  of  the  property,  and  to 
assess  the  rate  against  the  owner,  who  in  most  cases  manages 
to  transfer  it  in  whole  or  in  part  to  the  tenants.  In  Berlin 
the  sewerage  rate  is  two  per  cent  of  the  annual  rental  value 
of  the  property;  thus,  a  house  that  rents  for  a  thousand 


TiMeott 
of  biaIih 


a08     PRINCIPLIS  OP  MUNICIPAL  AOMINI8T1UTI0N 

marlu  per  year  payi  «n  annual  sewerage  rate  of  twenty 
marks,  or  about  five  dollars.  American  cities  have  not, 
save  in  very  exceptional  cases,  pursued  any  such  policy 
in  recent  years.  In  this  country  sewerage  has  come  to  be 
looked  upon  as  a  distinct  public  service  that  should  be 
rendered  freely  by  the  municipality  and  maintained  out  of 
the  common  funds. 


frmnehliM 
out  of  date 


BEWKB  FRANCRUm 

Some  of  the  earliest  sewers  in  this  country  were  built 
privately,  as  a  rule  by  neighboring  property-owners  in  co- 
operation. But  as  soon  as  the  need  of  a  whole  network  of 
sewers  came  to  be  recognised  the  municipalities  took  up  the 
task  of  providing  the  service.  Nevertheless,  the  sewerage 
systems  of  many  American  cities  have  at  one  time  or  another 
been  in  the  control  of  private  companies  operating  under 
franchises  which  gave  the  companies,  often  for  long  terms, 
the  exclusive  right  to  build  sewer  mains  in  the  public  streets 
and  the  authority  to  mak**  annual  charges  for  the  service  to 
all  property-owners,  a  system  of  private  exploitation  that 
usually  resulted  in  perpetuating  an  ibsolete  plant  and  in 
giving  the  city  bad  sanitation  at  a  lugu  price.  Accordingly 
the  nimiber  of  these  privately  managed  sewerage  systems 
has  been  steadily  diminishing ;  in  1902  there  were  only  forty- 
seven  in  ail  the  cities  and  towns  of  the  United  States,*  and 
to-day  there  are  probably  not  half  that  number,  the  case  of 
Atlantic  City,  New  Jersey,  being  perhaps  the  most  notable. 
The  day  of  the  sewer  franchise  is  past.  The  sewerage  sys- 
tem, as  has  been  aptly  pointed  out,'  differs  in  one  very  im^ 
portant  respect  from  all  other  so-termed  public  utilities :  it 
does  not  bring  to  the  people  a  positive  service  like  that 
furnished  by  the  lighting,  water,  or  telephone  authorities; 

.'  ^■^*i2!j'^'  ^«'»*«P«^  y»ar  Book  (New  York.  1902).  p.  xxziiL 
D.F.  WUoox,  Municipal  Franekim  (2  vols..  New  York,  1910-1911). 
■■  p  463. 


WASTE  DIHPOSAL  AND  8BWERA0I 

it  merely  takes  away  the  waate.  Naturally  enough,  the 
citiien  has  an  aversion  to  any  yeariy  payment  for  a  ser- 
vice of  that  Idnd;  he  sees  no  reason  why  he  should  pay 
for  his  sewerage  facilities  any  more  than  for  police  or  fira 
protection. 

Ml  this  has  been  very  well  illustrated  by  the  experience 
of  New  Orleans  in  dealing  with  its  sewerage  problems  dur^  Th»"s«* 
ing  the  Ust  forty  years.    The  situation  there  has  always  Nw"* 
been  difficult,  because  some  of  the  street  grades  are  below  ^^"^ 
the  level  of  the  Mississippi  at  high  water  and  sewage  has 
to  be  pumped  to  the  waterway.    Accordingly  the  city  en- 
deavored to  avoid  the  heavy  cost  of  installing  a  sewer 
system  by  giving  a  franchise  to  a  private  comj  .ly ;    but, 
although  the  terms  were  liberal  enough,  the  outv    ue  was  a 
failure.    In  the  end  New  Orleans  had  not  only  to  provide 
its  sewerage  system  out  of  public  funds,  but  to  realise  that 
the  only  result  of  its  prolonged  dickering  with  private  com- 
panies was  to  make  public  action  more  difficult  and  mora 
expensive  in  the  end. 

To  make  and  keep  a  dty  dean  is  a  costly  undertaking, 
and  yet  few  begrudge  the  price.  It  is  easier  to  get  the  TUdoite 
people  to  vote  for  this  kind  of  expenditure  than  for  almost  ••'■*^*» 
any  other.  Instead  of  applying  the  dollar  standard  in  such 
matters,  their  poUtical  leaders,  the  pulpit,  the  press,  and 
aU  other  organs  of  public  opinion  join  in  the  cry  that  human 
hfe  and  health  are  priceless.  No  expenditure,  they  urge, 
can  be  caUed  extravagant  if  made  in  the  cause  of  humanity. 
Very  little  good,  however,  can  ever  come  from  such  pkti- 
tudes.  The  phiin  fact  is  that  within  somewhat  flexible 
limits  a  dty  has  each  year  just  so  much  money  to  spend. 
It  can,  therefore,  do  just  eo  much  in  the  way  of  serving  its 
people  and  no  more.  If  it  spends  too  generously  in  sani- 
tation, it  must  retrench  in  expenditures  for  public  recreation 
or  for  some  other  equaUy  desirable  undertaking.  Nothing 
m  munidpal  administration  is  really  so  pricdess  or  so  im- 
perative as  enthusiasts  try  to  make  us  believe.    Every 


210     PRINCIPLES  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

dollar  that  a  city  proposes  to  spend  for  better  sanitation 
should  be  measiirci  judiciously  against  proposals  to  spend 
the  same  doU^^r  for  something  else.^  TTie  dollar  standard 
of  comparisoo  is  the  only  fajr  one ;  the  appeal  for  a  health- 
and-lifc-savinf  hms  of  determining  expenditures  will  never 
bring  a  city  to  administralive  eflSciency. 

"  "Relative  Values  in  Sanitatioii."  by  G.  C.  Whipple,  in  Tk«  A  neriean 
CUy.  X.  427-432  (May.  1914). 


CHAPTER  VI 

PUBUC  UOHTm  o 

There  was  practically  no  lighting  of  streeta  in  any  city 
of  ancient  or  early  media val  times.    In  Rome  the  houses  Htotoiyo* 
of  the  well-to-do  sometimes  had  blazing  flambeaux  set  ujJS,. 
before  their  doors,  and  when  citizens  went  abroad  after 
dark  they  were  preceded  by  torch-bearers,  while  within 
the  houses  a  shallow  dish  of  pottery  or  metal  Med  with 
fat  gave  its  sputtering,  dingy  light.    In  those  days  the 
world  went  to  bed  at  nightfall,  for  there  was  nothing  else 
to  do.    Then,  not  much  more  efficient  and  convenient 
than  the  ancient  lamp,  came  the  tallow  candle,  which 
lighted  the  homes  of  Europe  for  over  a  thousand  yeaia. 
In  pubUc  hghting  Paris  was  the  pioneer;   for  in  1668  the 
city  authorities  arranged  to  have  lanterns  hung  at  the 
street  comers  in  the  more  populous  sections  during  winter 
nights,   as  security  against  marauders.    Theee  lanterns, 
however,  which  were  rude  affairs  burning  pitch  or  resin, 
set  twenty  feet  above  the  street  and  about  sixty  feet  apart, 
did  Uttle  more  than  mark  the  course  of  the  thoroughfaree. 
London,  as  readers  of  Pepys's  Diary  will  remember,  re- 
mained unlighted  as  Ute  as  the  middle  of  the  teventeenth 
century.    Highwaymen  prowled  the  streets  on  their  evil 
errands,  while  gentlemen  drove  in  th«r  carriages  afttf 
nightfall  with  drawn  swords  lying  across  their  knees.    In 
due  course,  however,  the  En^^  metropolis  followed  the 
example  of  Paris,  until  by  the  first  half  of  the  ei^teenth 
centui^'  all  the  streets  of  London  had  come  to  be  lighted 

ail 


n 


212     PRINCIPLES  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

with  lanterns.'  But  street  Hghting  by  lanterns  was  stilf 
80  far  from  bnnging  safety  to  night  traffic  that  when  Parlia-i 
ment  adjourned  after  evening  sessions  it  was  the  custom^ 
to  send  memb.  -s  to  their  homes  under  the  protection  of  a^ 
mihtaiy  escort.  Everywhere  pubUc  lighting  was  regarded  ^ 
as  a  purely  police  measure,  not  as  a  matter  of  pubHc  con-^ 
venience.  The  care  of  the  lamps  or  lanterns  was  in  the^ 
hands  of  the  night  constables  or  watchmen,  who  attended  j 
to  this  function  quite  as  negligently  as  they  performed  I 
their  regular  patrolling  duties.* 

».„....      ,  ^^  ^"^  ^^^^^  lighting  first  came  into  use  at  Manchester  J 

gj^ajjt-  about  1800,  and  was  adopted  by  Londa,  Paris,  and  other  ^ 

cities  within  the  next  two  decades.    The  Erst  American  I 

city  to  use  it  as  a  pubhc  illuminant  was  Baltimore  in  1816  ^ 

but  Boston  foUowed  in  1822  and  New  York  a  year  later!  I 

Some  cities  had  installed  street  lamps  burning  kerosene   ^ 

but  these  were  soon  displaced,  and  from  about  1835  to  about  I 

1^85  gas  held  a  practical  monopoly  in  the  city  streets  of  I 

this  country.    Coal  gas  was  first  used;   then  about  1875  I 

came  tho  inventions  that  enabled  water  gas  to  be  made  ^ 

more  cheaply.    Towards  1880  the  open  electric  ait;  lamp  I 

came  mto  use  and  was  soon  widely  employed   for  street  ^ 

hghting,  to  be  followed  within  a  decade  by  the  electric  ^ 

incandescent.    These  two   types  of  bmp  had  so   many   ^ 

obvious  advantages  over  the  naked  gas  flame  that  it  seemed  i 

for  a  time  as  if  the  regime  of  pubhc  gas  hghting  were  draw-  J 

mg  to  a  close;  when  all  at  once,  about  1890,  through  the  I 

mvenUon,  by  Dr.  Carl  Auer  von  Welsbach,  of  a  practical  ^ 

gas  mantle  which  utilized  the  thermal  or  heating  quahties  J 

of  gas  for  iUumination,  it  sprang  into  a  new  lease  of  life.  ^ 

Not  only  did  the  Welsbach  burner  greatly  increase  the  ? 

Ulummatmg  efficiency  of  gas,  but  the  inverted  gas  mantle  ] 

iZ^  nlti    ^''y^  »«»d  De«Wn  of  Extent  munuii»tfo""Ttlie     | 
*d.  below.p.30S. 


PUBUC  LIOHTINO 


213 


and  the  gas  arc  lamp  operated  at  high  preaBure  soon  fol- 
lowed, tUl  gas  for  a  time  actuaUy  got  the  upper  hand  in 
the  pubhc-lighting  situation.  Soon  the  electricians,  re- 
covermg  from  their  set-back,  responded  with  the  enclosed 
arc,  the  tungsten,  the  nitrogen  lamp,  and  various  allied 
improvements;  and  the  contest  is  stiU  going  on,  with  no 
decisive  advantage  on  either  side.»  Most  cities  continue 
to  make  Uirge  use  of  both  gas  and  electricity  for  street 
lighting,  but  on  the  main  thoroughfares  electricity  has 
made  the  greater  headway. 

MTT'^ODS  OP  PUBUC  UGHTINO 

Whether  gas  or  electricity  is  from  every  point  of  view 
Bupenor  for  purposes  of  public  iUumination,  no  man  can  o,,^ 
say  unquaUfiedly.    Partisans  of  each,  to  be  sure,  have  no  t^SS" 
hesitation  m  pronouncing  judgment  in  favor  of  their  own  ***** 
iUummant,  but  the  layman  will  do  well  not  to  trust  these 
opimons.    In  any  comparison  of  the  respective  merits  of 
the  two  methods  a  great  many  things  have  to  be  taken 
into  account,  — cost,   efficiency,   dependabiUty,   and   the 
entire  esthetic  aspect  of  the  question,  —  aU  of  them  com- 
phcated  and  technical  matters  round  which  a  good  deal 
of  controversy  is  still  being  carried  on.     The  pubUc-light- 
ing  problem,  moreover,  is  not  the  same  in  aU  cities,  o, 
even  m  aU  the  streets  of  the  same  city.    Differences  in 
geographical  situation  or  in  local  conditions  aflfect  the  cost 
of  coal  transportation,  of  excavation  for  pipes,  of  labor, 
and  of  many  other  things  that  are  greater  factors  in  the 
cost  of  lighting  by  gas  than  of  Ughting  by  electricity.    Then, 
too,  considerations  of  pubUc  safety  or  of  pubUc  taste  must 
be  reckoned  with  in  aU  cases;   or,  again,  the  presence  of 

thfi  TW^if^f*^".  Pi*°*"'  f*  "y  "**«•  '"^  •>««  ioenmdag  throughout 
the  Umted  States  at  al»ut  the  nme  paoe.  Aocording  to  th^  Cennu  Bu- 
reau  8  flguTM  {Central  EUetric  Light  and  Pwwr  «S.,  imVm  %L 

«  2  p^oe'nT"*"  ^  *^*^°  ^^  ^"^  ^  '*«»*'  IwifflEllS 


214     PRINCIPLES  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


The 
tiaUof 
efficieiit 
public 

lighting. 


cheap  water  power  may  turn  the  scale  slightly  in  favor 
of  electric  lighting.'  The  question  is  one  that  must  be  an- 
swered by  each  city  for  itself,  and  the  answer,  if  given  after 
careful  deliberation,  will  depend  upon  the  relative  weight 
accorded  to  many  diflferent  elements.  Quite  likely,  indeed, 
the  decision  may  be  in  favor  of  gas  for  some  streets  and 
of  electricity  for  others. 

To  the  man  who  has  not  given  any  thought  to  the  sub- 
ject, the  only  essentials  of  good  public  lifting  are  that 
there  shall  be  plenty  of  it  without  too  great  a  cost.    But 
there  are  other  points  to  be  considered.    For  one  thing, 
the  amount  and  intensity  of  the  light  required  for  satis- 
factory service  varies  greatly,  as  will  be  seen  presently, 
with  different  classes  of  streets.    It  is  also  essential  that 
the  lights  shall  be  free  from  glare,  an  annoyance  that  re- 
sults when  the  rays  of  light  strike  the  eye  near  the  hori- 
zontal and  so  drown  out  the  images  on  the  retina.    It 
usually  comes  from  using  li^ts  of  too  great  power  and 
placing  them  too  low  on  the  poles.    So,  also,  a  flickering 
light  is  defective,  for  it  compels  a  continual  adjustment  of 
the  eye  to  changing  intensities  of  light.    This  was  a  serious 
fault  in  the  old  open  arc  lamp.    Public  lighting,  again, 
should  be  uniform,  —  that  is  to  say,  it  should  not  make 
the  street  surface  a  mosaic  of  bright  and  dark  spots.    The 
full  moon  does  not  cast  light  of  great  brilliancy  anywhere, 
yet  it  illuminates  the  whole  surface  of  the  streets  with  a 
uniformity  that  no  system  of  artificial  lighting  can  ev« 
hope  to  attain.    Satisfactory  public  lighting  is  therefore 
a  matter  that  includes  consideration  of  many  things  — 
total  light  flux,  light  distribution,  constancy  of  current 
or  pressiu*,  design,  aesthetic  attractiveness,  reliability,  and 
cost.    The  last-named  item  is  the  one  that  always  gets 
the  lion's  share  of  public  discussion,  but  it  is  not  by  any 
means  the  only  one  of  importance. 

*  Tho  OMt  of  power  equipmnnt  is  nmeh  iMXgn  in  the  9tm  of  a  mW- 
dnven  plant  and  this  offsets,  to  some  OEtent,  the  lower  ooat  of  opaatioB. 


PUBLIC  LIOHTINO 


ms 


A  moment's  consideration  will  show  that,  although  most 
cities,  in  their  contracts  with  lighting  companies,  agree  to  t^pn^tt 
buy  and  pay  for  light  of  such-and-such  candle  power  set  SSE?* 
high  up  in  the  air,  ./hat  they  really  want  is  so  much  light 
at  or  near  the  surface  r,  their  streets,  squares,  parks,  and 
other  public  spaces,  a  lamp,  whether  gas  or  electric, 
that  gives  light  of  a  designated  intensity  at  the  top  of  a 


post  wiU  not,  of  course,  give  the  same  amount  of  illumina- 
tion on  the  street  level;  nor  will  the  illumination  which 
It  does  give  be  uniform  at  aU  points  on  the  surface,  — it 
wiU  be  high  at  some  points  and  low  at  others.  Hence  the 
desirabiUty  of  so  determining  the  type  of  lamp  to  be  used 
and  so  placing  it  as  to  insure  the  necessary  illumination,  and 
no  more,  on  aU  those  portions  of  the  street  surface  where 
It  18  needed.*  If  more  is  given  than  is  needed  at  any  point, 
the  discrepancy  is  waste.  These  things  can  now  be  figured 
out  with  such  great  precision  that  there  is  no  longer  any 

1^  OM  type  of  eleotrio  an  bunp  whioh  ia  UMd  to  some  extent  fwrtwet- 
distMces  from  the  bwe  of  the  poet.    See  »bo  p.  220.  note.        """""^ 


QmbikI 

•leotridty 

eoBipand. 


216     PRINCIPLB8  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINIOTRATION 

excuse  for  guesswork  in  determining  them.*  Yet  most  ol 
our  cities  waste  a  great  deal  of  public  money  each  vear  ix 
providing  far  more  Ught  than  is  needed  in  some  places  and 
h^ce  cannot  afford  to  provide  nearly  enough  in  othew. 

Prior  to  the  Welsbach  and  other  inventions  all  gas  for 
pubHc  Ughting  was  supplied  under  low  pressure,  the  force 
.    m  the  mains  at  the  street  level  being  usually  from  one 
and  one  half  to  three  inches  water  column,  or  an  ounce 
or  two  to  the  square  inch.'    For  arc  lights  gas  is  now  sup- 
phed  at  pressures  as  high  as  sixty  or  eighty  pounds  per 
square  mch,  and  a  single  gas  arc  lamp  may  radiate  as 
much  as  four  thousand  candle  power.    For  use  in  private 
buildings  this  pressure  is  of  course  reduced  by  automatic 
regulators.    So  far  as  maximum  brilliancy  per  lamp  is 
concerned,  gas  can  now  supply  all  that  a  city  ordinarily 
demands,   even   on   the  busiest   streets.    Electricity  has 
always  been  able  to  do  this;  but  whether  gas  or  electric 
lamps  of  equal  candle  power  are  more  satisfactory  from  a 
phyaological  standpoint,  that  is  to  say,  are  better  suited 
to  the  human  eyesight,  is  a  question  on  which  experts  are 
yet  far  from  any  agreement.    Then  there  is  the  esthetic 
element  to  be  considered :  many  persons  prefer  one  or  the 
other  system  because  they  think  it  makes  a  street  look 
better.'    Ekborate  tests  have  been  made,  moreover,  as 
to  the  relative  merits  of  the  two  illuminants  from  the  view- 
points of  steadiness,  suitability  to  the  needs  of  rapid  and 
riow  traffic,  rektive  glare,  and  a  dozen  other  qualities. 
To  compare  the  two  on  a  basis  of  relative  cost  is  also  a  pai^ 
ticukrly  difficult  matter.    As  will  be  pointed  out  later, 

trlJoIit!i!?*°*  of  munioii»l  •dmini.tmtlon  who  hu  lome  oomnuuid  of 
trigonometry  may  be  interested  to  know  how  enginfler*  oonmotoBbvet- 

£  JiSsia^  /B«m.nflhnff  Engin^ng  (2  vob..  Bidtimon.  IMl). 

I  Fot  an  exphmation.  Me  below,  p.  234.  note 
•Preston  S.  Millar,  "The  EffeoUve  lOomination  of  Stnati."  in 

imSZ'  i9i«.  ^""^"^  ^'"'*"^  "^  '""'^  ''^■•^•'  S?*S7»- 


PUBUC  LIOHTINO 


317 


the  cost  of  pubUc  lighting  by  electricity  ii  largely  the  cost 
of  producing  and  distributing  current  (including  both  over- 
head  and  operating  charges) ;  the  expense  of  public  lighting 
b-  gas,  on  the  other  hand,  includes,  as  a  very  important 
factor,  the  Urge  amount  of  daily  labor  that  is  required  to 
Ught  and  extinguish  the  street  lamps.  Although  the  two 
systems  of  Ughting  aim  to  achieve  the  same  end,  namely, 
to  give  the  bet  iUuminant  at  the  lowest  cost,  they  differ 
in  eveiy  detail  of  manufacture,  distribution,  maintenance. 
and  accounting  That  is  why  bit)ad  comparisons  are  $i 
dimcult. 


THE  VARIOUS  FIELDS  OF  PUBUC  UOHTIKO 

The  problem  of  pubKc  Hghting  leUtes  to  structures,  to 
parks  and  public  squares,  and  to  streets,  including  aUeys  !«««»« 
and  bndges.    In  the  case  of  structures,  such  as  pohce  and  SSS«. 
fire  stations,  hbranes,  and  other  pubhc  buildings,  the  or- 
dinarjr  principles  of  interior  illumination  apply;    but  no 
general  cUbb  of  lighting  has,  on  the  whole,  been  more  poorly 
done,  despite  the  fact  that  in  some  places  of  public  resort 
hke  the  reading  rooms  of  city  Hbraries,  the  need  for  efficient 
lighting  18  quite  apparent.*    PoKce  and  fire  stations  have, 
as  a  rule,  been  about  the  most  pooriy  lighted  buildings  in 
the  community.    Gas  has  been  commonly  used  in  these 
because  it  was  thought  cheaper,  but  in  the  new  buildings 
electnc  hghting  is  being  provided.    School  buildings  f^ 
merly  had  no  adequate  lighting  facilities  at  aU;  but,  now 
that  they  are  being  used  for  evening  classes  and  for  social 
™  ?[  ^"*o'»  "orts,  the  necessity  of  providing  them  with 
artificial  light  is  coming  to  be  recognised.    In  some  Euro- 
pean  cities,  notably  in  Glasgow,  the  common  halls  and 


Ughtii« 

parinutd 

irablie 

■VUIM. 


218     PRINOIPLBS  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINIOTRATION 

■tairwaya  of  privately  owned  tenement  houses  are  lighted 
at  the  public  expense.  Although  the  cost  of  Hghting  sud 
places  about  equals  the  entire  cost  of  illuminating  the  dU 
streete  the  policy  is  held  to  be  justified  by  its  usefuhieM 
as  a  pohce  measure. 

The  lighting  of  parks  and  squares  presents  a  somewhat 
different  problem  from  that  of  streets.    In  the  case  of 
square  not  only  is  there  a  more  definite  area  to  be  lighted 
but  when,  as  is  usual,  there  are  also  street  intersections  with 
much  traffic  passing,  a  high  degree  of  brilliancy  is  needed, 
l-he  pubhc  square  usually  requires  as  much  light  as  the 
business  street,  and  its  lamps  should  be  set  so  high  that 
the  hght  will  cover  every  part  of  the  surface.    In  parks 
on  the  other  hand,  since  they  are  not  centres  of  traffic 
or  of  resort  after  nightfaU,  bright  lighting  is  not  needed 
as  a  matter  of  traffic  convenience.    The  lighting  of  parks 
w  largely  a  matter  of  preserving  pubUc  order  and  simplify, 
mg  the  work  of  the  poUce.    For  this  reason  parks  should 
be  weU  but  not  brilliantly  lighted,  the  standard  being  that 
of  a  minor  residential  street.    The  hd^t  and  spacing  of 
park  hghts  present  a  special  problem,  for  it  is  desirable 
to  ehmmate  all  spots  of  dense  shadow  which  would  be 
likely  to  shelter  the  loitering  or  the  disorderly.    The  best 
results  are  usually  had  from  Kghts,  either  gas  or  electric, 
of  moderate  bnlhancy  set  fairly  low  at  frequent  intervals. 
AJegree  of  general  Ught  much  below  the  moonlight  stand- 
ard will  ordinarily  suffice;  no  more  is  needed  than  permits 
the  strolhng  poKceman  to  distinguish  human  figures  at  a 
reasonable  distance.    Park  lights,  therefore,  when  properiy 
pUced,  are  never  found  arranged  in  any  perfect  order, 
rhey  are  located  wherever  dark  spots  under  trees  or  among 
tobbeiy  call  for  them;  they  should  not  be  higher  than 
the  lowest  branches;  and  they  should  be  properly  shaded 
so  as  to  throw  their  main  light  downward.    The  low  placing 
of  these  lights  also  requires  that  they  should  be  surrounded 
by  ground-ghiss  or  opal  globes,  so  as  to  avoid  gUire.     Park 


PUBUC  UQHTINO 


319 


lighting  should  likewise  be  decorative;  the  potts  should  be 
of  proper  design  and  should  be  so  located  as  to  conform 
to  the  local  topography.  If  the  boulevards  and  drives 
are  curved,  it  is  appropriate  that  the  lights  should  be  placed 
to  emphasise  the  curves  and  also  that  they  should  be  more 
powerful  here  than  in  other  portions  of  the  parkway. 


nliMM  ol 


CLASSinCATION  OF  8THKB1B  FOR  UOHTDfO  FURP0S1I8 

The  problem  of  street  lighting  is  that  of  furnishing  ade- 
quate illumination  to  narrow  strips  of  territory  which  already  *"«» 
obtain  more  or  less  Ught,  either  directly  or  by  reflection,  SSL 
from  the  abutting  buildings.    The  amount  of  public  illu- 
mination that  is  necessaiy  depends  of  course  upon  the 
amount  of  traffic  in  the  street,  the  nature  of  the  traffic, 
and  the  sort  of  other  use  to  which  the  thorou^are  is 
mainly  put.    Street  lighting  is  no  longer  a  police  precau- 
tion alone;  in  these  days  it  is  designed  not  solely  or  even 
chiefly  to  prevent  crime,  but  to  enhance  the  public  com- 
fort and  convenience.    The  amount  of  light  that  we  provide 
nowadays  for  our  chief  thorouj^ares  is  many  times  what 
police  purposes  would  require.    The  problem  to-day  is 
rather  that  of  adapting  light  to  traffic.    From  this  point  of 
view  the  streets  of  a  city  may  be  grouped  into  four  classes : 
(1)  main  retail  business  streets;  (2)  cross  streets,  those  of 
wholesale  or  warehouse  districts,  and  boulevards;  (3)  resi- 
dential streets;   (4)  outlying  streets.    Some  thoroughfares 
may  be  on  the  border  line  between  these  categories,  but 
most  streets  of  a  dty  will  fall  readily  into  one  or  another 
of  them. 

The  chief  business  streets  of  a  city  require  brilliant  illu- 
mination.   Since  it  is  in  them  that  afterKiark  traffic,  made  i««t«»e 
up  of  street  cars,  motor  cars,  taxicabs,  carriages,  and  pedes-  "^ 
tnans,  is  most  congested,  public  safety  and  convenience, 
as  well  as  purely  business  considerations,  demand  that  they 
be  amply  lighted.    In  most  of  them  the  public  Ughting  is 


thoiaaSh- 


erowttreeta 
•ndboule- 


320     IWNCIPLM  or  MUNIOim  ADMINMTTUTIW  : 

ropplemcnted  to  wme  extent  by  the  light,  of  Aop  window, 
and  Illuminated  «gn. ;  in  .  few  cum,  indeed,  m  for  iuTd^ 

rtwetiUununstion  come,  from  the*  private  wurce^  Mo^ 
erf  th^privat^lighting,  however,  doe.  not  ap,S^  bCS 

^estreet  surface :  roof  rign.  do  not  re^fthe  p.S^^ 

nf  ♦?  ^'^^^'T'r  P"^***  aiumination  for  that  portion  ^ 
^ the  rtreet  which  i.  u«rf  by  vehicle  traffic.  B^^^l 
^^er  nonrce.  the  light  i.  derived,  the  chief  Z^l 
•^^a  oty  ought  to  be  bright  enough  to  permit  Zl 

wading  of  ordmaiy  print,  -  that  i.  to  MyTSey  A«Jd 
«  mten«ty  (rf  fjom  one  quarter  to  one  foot!^ 
street  ««rface^»    T***  lighting  Aould  be  much^l^  i 
fore,  than  that  aflb«ied  by  maximum  moo^^  1^  : 
^jma^on  can  be  had  by  dngle  electric  ar/tn^^  i 

I««»ure  In  other  caw  the  lig^t.  Aould  be  wt  high  a^  I 
W^^T*'  ff^  •*  *»  «»*^«»  of  twenty^veS  ^  I 

of  the  traffic,  but  m  no  cam  diould  they  be  out  mnrTthll  ^ 
^hundred  feet  apart.  Or  the  liglTS^,:^  i 
flamng^rc8orbyclurter.ofincandewentlLp.^„J^  I 

mc^e  power,  set  at  clowr  interval..    Mo^aZ^Z  \ 

li^gon  the  pnncipal  street,  uroally  take.  thi.  form. 
Subsidiary  buanes.  thonnu^ifaw.,  rtreet.  ofttie^e.   ^ 

sale  distncts  on  which  there  is  much  U^lXltS  ^ 
at  mght,  and  long  rtretche.  of  boulevard,  ^^^ihTtai^   ^ 

mummation.  T^e  enclosed  electric  arc  at  wide  intervals.  1 
or  the  unproved  type,  of  incandewent  electricTSrS    I 

of  one  foot.    A^t^l^jS^^^^^  ^  ^^  **^  •*  •  di'tn'a*     I 

umfom  mumiMtion riven  bv^fi^n^^-  .'*''*" P*'»«»«    Th»     I 

at.bontoneqn«ti5Tf<S^SJ"'^"*«^'^«>'ti-««»urtrf     | 


FDBUO  UOHTmO 


pn^y  qMeed,  aaticfy  the  normal  requirement ;  and  then 
are  also  varioua  kinda  of  gaa  lamp  which  have  been  found 
Batisfactoiy  for  uae  in  theae  highwaya.  Obvioualy,  in  auoh 
streets  little  aaaistanoe  b  obtained  from  shop  windows  or 
other  private  sources.  Being  of  much  inferior  candle  power, 
the  lights  in  cross  streets  and  boulevards  aie  not  set  so  far 
abovo  the  street  level  as  those  in  main  avenues ;  as  a  rule 
they  are  only  twenty  feet  high,  or  less.  Their  efficiency 
can,  of  course,  be  greatly  increased  by  the  use  of  proper 
shades  and  reflectors  which  turn  the  h'l^t  down  to  the  road- 
way and  sidewalk.  The  lighting  of  subsidiaiy  streeta  is 
too  often  made  a  matter  of  secondaiy  consideration ;  but 
this  is  a  veiy  unfortunate  policy,  for  well-lighted  streets 
mean  cleaner  thoroughfares,  more  attractive  store-fronts, 
and  a  better  general  tone  in  nei^borhooda  where  such  im- 
provement ia  most  needed. 

In  the  provision  of  Ughting  faciUUes  for  residential  streets 
the  esthetic  factor  becomes  prominent;  these  streets,  i^WMIm 
moreover,  are  usually  narrower  than  streets  devoted  to  "*'^** 
business  purposes,  they  are  often  heavily  shaded  by  trees, 
and  the  thoroughfare  derives  practically  no  illumination 
whatever  from  the  lighting  of  buildings  along  the  route. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  proper  lighting  of  these  streets  makes 
no  heavy  demand  in  point  of  brilliancy.  Electricity  or  gas 
serves  about  equally  weU ;  the  tungsten  lamp  and  the  mantle 
burner  (either  upright  or  inverted)  have  both  been  used 
with  entire  satisfaction  in  all  our  lai^ge  cities.  Gas  continues 
to  be  more  commonly  used,  though  it  seems  to  be  slowty 
losing  its  hold.  The  lights  on  residential  stivets  should  be 
set  low,  not  more  than  twelve  feet  above  the  pavement,  — 
a  point  particulariy  to  be  observed  when  a  street  is  lined 
wth  trees.  To  prevent  glare  it  is  customaiy  to  enclose 
them  in  opal  or  frosted  globes.  The  lamps  are  phiced  at  aU 
street  intersections  and  at  reasonable  intervals  between. 
Sometimes  the  posts  are  set  on  both  sides  of  the  street  op- 
posite one  another;  sometimes  they  are  "staggered,"  that 


Ill 


LWiting 
oatlyinc 
■tiMto. 


222     PWNCIPLW  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINWPRATION 

it,  SO  located  that  a  pott  on  one  aide  Uet  midway  between 
two  posts  on  the  other,  an  arrangement  that  makei  for 
a  more  even  distribution  of  the  light  but  is  commonly  n- 
garded  at  detracting  from  the  general  appearance  of  the 
ttreet.    In  determining  the  proper  interval  between  potta 
no  absolute  formula  can  be  foUowed ;  local  conditiont  mutt 
be  taken  mto  account.    Much  depends  upon  the  nature  of 
the  street,  whether  ttraight,  crooked,  level,  or  hiUy,  whether 
wide  or  narrow,  whether  free  from  treet  or  heavUy  shaded. 
Somethmg   also   depends   upon   the   pavement,    whether 
macadam  or  asphalt ;  for  a  weU-paved  asphalt  street  reflects 
back  the  light  cost  on  its  surface.    Everybody  hat  noticed, 
for  example,  1  .w  a  f^U  of  tnow  teems  to  double  the  effi- 
ciency  of  the  ttreet  lampt;  yet  this ;.  n  ,  ^  the  accentua- 
tion of  a  light-colored  pavement. 

In  eveiy  city  there  are  a  great  many  suburban  ttreett  in 
which  the  houses  lie  some  distance  apart  and  over  which 
there  is  very  httle  traffic  after  nightfaU.    These  streets,  of 
course  have  to  be  lighted  in  the  interest  of  public  comfort 
and  safety,  but  it  is  not  necessary  that  thoy  be  brilliantly 
hghted,  a  feature  which  often  serves  the  city  as  an  excuse 
for  carrying  economy  to  an  extreme.    Gas  lamps  and  in- 
candescent electric  hghts  are  both  used  in  these  outlying 
streets;   the  choice  is  merely  a  matter  of  relative  cost  or 
convenience.     To  be  satisfactory  the  lamp-posts  must  be 
fairly  low;   but  the  spacing  may  be  greater  than  in  the 
regular  r^dential  streets,   and  hence  the  average  UAt 
difrus«l  throughout  the  area  is  usuaUy  much  less  thanX 
moonbght  standard.    Thus  far  in  Eastern  cities,  at  any 
rate,  gas  has  been  rather  more  freely  made  use  of  than 
electricity  m  these  thinly  settled  sections,  chiefly  because 
It  18  more  generally  used  in  the  dwellings  there.    Eleo- 
tncity  cannot  as  a  rule  compete  favorably  with  vu  in 
such  regions  unless  wires  are  pfirmitted  to  be  strung  ova^ 
head;  for  when  they  have  to  be  laid  in  underground  con- 
dmts  over  long  stretches  of  street  the  coat  of  distributing 


PUBUC  UOHTINO 


233 


electricity  is  greatly  increaaed.  In  nuuiy  Western  com- 
munities, however,  overiioad  wires  are  permitted  without 
restraint,  and  in  some  <rf  them  electricity  has  been  success- 
ful in  crowding  out  gas  altogether.  AUeys  and  courts  may 
be  classed  for  this  purpose  with  outlying  streets,  for  in  them 
the  lighting  is  almost  wholly  a  matter  of  insuring  order  and 
decency,  not  of  facilitating  traffic.  It  is  in  such  minor 
passages  that  the  gas  lamp  often  holds  almost  undisputed 
sway. 

It  appears,  therefore,  that  each  class  of  public  property 
presents  its  own  peculiar  lighting  problems.    The  park, 
the  square,  the  main  retail  buainess  thoroughfare,  the 'minor 
business  street,  the  street  which  is  used  much  by  day  but 
little  by  night,  the  street  of  the  fine  residential  district,  that 
of  the  tenement-house  area  and  that  of  the  suburb,  the 
aUeyway,— each  has  its  special  requirements.    Their  needs 
are  as  diverse  in  the  matter  of  li^t  as  in  the  matter  of 
paving;  yet  lighting  policy  has  not,  on  the  whole,  adjusted 
itself  very  carefully  to  these  differences.    Unfortunately, 
the  selection  of  lights  and  even  the  placing  of  them  is  more 
often  determined  by  political  pressure  than  by  the  advice 
of  those  who  have  studied  local  needs  and  know  how  to 
meet  them  in  the  most  efficient  and  economical  way.    The 
voters  who  live  in  one  street,  for  example,  demand  that  they 
be  provided  with  the  same  kind  of  lamps  as  are  placed  in 
some  other  street,  and  with  the  influence  of  some  of  the 
aldermen  or  coundllors  behind  them  th^  frequently  get 
their  way.    Even  when  a  private  company  furnishes  the 
light,  the  city  authorities  always  determine  what  type  of 
lamp  shaU  be  used  in  any  particular  street  and  where  the 
posts  shaU  be  placed.    Too  often,  therefore,  the  whim  or 
the  caprice  of  some  poUtically  influential  person  may  count 
for  more  in  such  matters  than  do  all  the  dictates  of  skiU  or 
prudence. 


nmtoia 

publie- 

Ufhting 


Imi»t>ve- 
mentoin 
lampao- 
temotiea. 


224     PRINCIPLK8  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 
STBBET-UGHTINO  EQUIFlfENT 

During  the  last  ten  years  great  improvements  have  been 
made  not  only  in  the  intensity  of  the  iUuminants  but  in  the 
poles,  lamps,  and  other  fixtures.  The  flickering  open  arc 
has  given  way  to  the  luminous  lamp,  commonly  known  as  the 
magnetite  or  flaming-carbon  arc  according  to  the  tvpe  of 
electrode  used;  while  the  metaUized  incandescent^d 
Its  more  recent  development,  the  gas-fiUed  lamp,  have 
been  brought  to  a  high  point  of  lighting  efficiency.*    like- 

wise  the  use  of  high  pressures  in  the  street  mains  has  revolu- 
tiomz^  the  methods  ,f  public  gas  hghting.    Every  form 
of  h^tmg  eqmpment  has  been  rapidly  improved.    The 
unsightly  wooden  pole  with  its  frame  bracket  has  aU  but 
disappeared ;  weU-designed  iron  or  iron-and-wood  standards 
aretakmgitspUce.    There  are  now  four  satisfactory  ways 
of  mountmg  street  hunps,-the  pole-top,  bracket,  mast, 
and  cross-standard  methods.    The  pole-top  method  is  sdf- 
expknatoiy.    The  bracket  carries  the  lamp  out  from  the  pole 
toward  the  c^tre  of  the  street.    The  mast  is  a  swiveuL 
attachment  which  holds  the  hunp  about  eij^t  feet  stoZ 
wards  from  the  pole.    The  cross^rtandard  plan  suspends  the 
lamp  in  the  centre  of  the  street  by  means  of  a  cable  that 
runs  either  from  poles  set  opposite  each  other  or  from 
abuttmg  bmldings.    From  the  viewpoint  of  illuminating 
efficacy  this  IS  the  best  method  of  aU ;  it  is  widely  employed 
abroad,  but  m  America  it  is  not  used  very  much  because 
property-owners  seem  to  dislike  it. 

Great  mechanical  advances  have  also  been  made  in  the 
gear  for  raising  and  lowering  kmps,  in  electrodes,  globes, 
shades,  reflectors,  and  other  accessories.  The  plan.  too.  of 
arrangmg  Uunps  in  clusters,  though  expensive  in  proportion 
to  the  amount  of  light  effectively  diffused,  greatly  improves 
>  DetRib  of  this  develoimiait  are  given  by  tlw  UnitMl  Himt^  n....... 


1*DBUC  UOHTINO 


225 


the  appearance  of  the  streets.    One  may,  in  fact,  nuse  the 
question  whether  our  erase  for  transforming  so  many  streets 
into  "great  white  ways"  by  means  of  these  clusters  is  not 
reaUy  leading  cities  into  serious  extravagances.    A  lane 
part  of  what  this  poUcy  costs  is  not  an  expenditure  for  light 
but  an  outlay  for  decoration.    Other  mechanical  improve- 
ments have  not  been  so  expensive  and  th^  are  hence  moi« 
welcome.    In  some  cases  the  lamp  globes  are  being  used  to 
cany  the  names  of  iateraecting  streets,  a  phm  that  would 
greatly  serve  the  pubKc  convenience  if  adopted  evervwhere 
FmaUy,  wires  and  cables  that  convey  the  current  for  deo^ 
tnc  Ughtmg  ate  now  being  put  underground,  encased  either 
in  vitnfied  cky  conduits  or  in  iron  piping.    Eveiythimr 
connected  with  pubUc  lighting  has  made  great  progressin 

recent  years.    Exterior  iUumination  has  become  an  exact 
and  a  practical  science. 


TBB  QUESTION  OF  LIGB33NO-H017B8 

Most  cities  maintain  the  "all-nig^t  schedules"  of  pubHc 
hghtmg.  This  means  that  hunps  ai«  lighted  about  a  half- P«i*». 
hour  after  sunset  and  extinguished  about  a  half-hour  before  SM"? 
sunnse,  without  any  regard  to  moonlight,  a  system  that 
obviously  involves  a  huge  waste  by  providing  Kght  at 
tunes  when  It  IS  needed  very  Uttle  if  at  alL  The  "alKniriit 
and  every-night  schedule"  amounts  to  about  four  thousimd 
hours  per  year.  In  an  effort  to  economise,  many  cities, 
both  m  Europe  wd  in  America,  have  adopted  what  is  knowr^ 

^l  f.'  'T^«^*  *'^*^^*'"  "  """ge-^t  under  which 
aU  the  hghts,  or  at  least  a  portion  of  them,  are  turned  out 
of  service  whenevw  the  conditions  of  moon  and  atmoroherB 
are  favorable  TTiis  pUn  permits  a  r«iuction  to  ibo^ 
three  thousand  hours  per  year,  a  saving  of  26  per  cent  in 
the  lUummant  used.    But  by  adopting  this  schedule  a  city 

do^  not  by  any  means  save  25  per  cent  of  its  total  annui 
expenditure  for  pubBc  lighting,  for  the  cost  of  the  actual 

o 


226     PRINCIPLES  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

aiuminant  is  only  a  fraction  of  tlie  whole;   the  capital 
charges  for  plant  and  equipment,  the  cost  of  maintenance 
and  the  cost  of  Ughting  and  extinguishing  (in  the  case  of 
eas)  remam  the  same  in  any  event.    As  a  matter  of  fact 
the  savmg  is  probably  not  more  than  10  per  cent  altogether' 
and  the  system  has  various  minor  disadvantages     It  i^ 
of  ten  referred  to  as  "candle^d  economy,"  and  the  opinion 
of  hghtmg  experts  is  rather  adverse  to  it.    Many  European 
cities  and  some  cities  in  this  country  find  the  "half-niirht 
schedule     more  satisfactory.    This  plan  involves  leavL 
aU  hghts  burning  until  midnight  or  one  o'clock,  after  whiS 
some  of  them  are  extinguished,  so  that  the  general  iUumina- 
tion  IS  dmunished  as  the  traffic  lessens.     In  residential 
streets,  for  example,  every  second  light  is  usuaUy  extin- 
guished ;  m  main  business  streets  aU  Hghts  except  those  at 
street  intersections  are  put  out ;  in  outlying  areas  very  little 
reduction  is  made.    This  plan  cannot,  however,  serve  the 
ends  of  economy  veiy  effectively  except  as  regards  electric 
lightmg,  and  even  then  only  when  the  lamps  that  are  to 
be  thus  extinguished   have  been  instaUed   on  8<n)arate 
circmts.  "^ 


FACTORS  IN  THE  COST  OT  BLBCTBIC   LIGHTINQ 

So-     •     ,„.2'ff;''!^*'°^°{P"<*"«^8»»ddi»tributingthedee. 
tncity  that  is  needed  for  a  publi(^lighting  system  depends 

^-  ..  ^  on  many  variable  factors,  one  of  which  is  the  sourTof 
power,  whether  it  be  water  or  steam.  When  a  phmt  has 
a  natural  water  power  at  its  command  the  expense  of 
producmg  current  is  sUghtly  lessened;  when  steamwwer 
IS  us€d  the  cost  of  coal  is  an  important  item.  It  matteiB 
soinething  accordingly,  whether  a  city  is  in  close  proximity 
to  the  coal  fields  like  Rttsbun^,  for  example,  or  far  away 
from  them,  hke  Boston.  Far  more,  however,  hinge,  upi 
the  qu^ion  whether  the  pUnt  is  new  or  old,  wheth«it 
has  half-obsolete  or  up-to-date  generating  machineiy.    A 


PVBUC  LIOHTINO 


237 


great  deal  depends,  again,  upon  whether  the  wires  th.* 
supply  the  lights  are  carried  on  doW  ov»!i,^      • 

conduits  underground.    likewise  th^'rostT'SS>r"th^ 
maximum  legal  houw  nf  «rn,.i,   *u        i  ^"or,   the 

01  current  needed  for  public  «nd  private  Ughtine  m  wdl  J  '■'~i 
for  dectm  power  in  indurtrij  ertiblWunef te^ !S.J! 
.t  different  period,  of  the  d.y  and3?  ^t^j  ^ 
on  the  pleat  alao  elunn.  _»k  ST  ^  '  ""  <'"»»tt<l 
greater  to  lie^S?  ftL^f .?°  ■^°"'  "^  »"* 
*e  hour,  iuet  .Z^,^'::  -Sd^^Tn' JS^..  ^ 

ment  into  plav  for  onlv  «  f«w  k        "*°  °"^  *"  t^e  equip- 
cb««e,on'tW.°;^tJl'trttZ^    "^"^ 

f«ll  operation  ."^TienrX  ^tS'  "^^  ?  " 
stewfineM  to  the  d«n..m)7  *^J"  **"  "PPrmoh  to 

"^t  «>«..^^^t»'urrr;^iln?hf^s; 

capacity  is  constantly  utilised     TT,!.  •      *  1       ,    "^  '^ 

looked  by  the  casual^cStfT:?  Ugh^  J^^^ 

one  of  very  great  importance.*  '         *  "*  "^^ 

American  Aeadmp  T^i^anTsLS^^  ^^^  *°  ^'"«*  «!^  «»• 


If 


The  need 
of  ewe  and 
akfllinod. 
euUUng 
fair 


228     PRINCIPLES  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

In  calciilating  what  the  actual  cost  of  public  lighting  by 
electricity  may  fairly  be,  a  city  should  take  all  these  various 
factors  into  account.  If  it  is  a  customer  for  current  during 
ten  hours  out  of  twenty-four,  it  should  have  a  more  favor- 
able rate  than  the  householder  who  averages  a  much  shorter 
period  of  daily  use.  The  figure  at  which  an  operating  com- 
pany can  a£ford  to  supply  current  to  the  municipality  will 
depend,  accordingly,  upon  the  possibility  of  keeping  its 
plant  going  throughout  the  day  hours  by  supplying  power 
to  factories ;  in  other  words,  it  will  depend  upon  the  assist- 
ance which  the  demand  of  the  whole  community  affoids 
the  company  in  its  endeavor  to  pro-rate  fixed  costs  evenly, 
a  calculation  phunly  not  one  that  may  safely  be  left  in 

four  houn;  th»t  has  an  oporatiiie  expense,  inoluding  taxes  and  intenst 
on  the  investmrat  oT  118,000  per  year,  of  which  flO  per  oent  is  oovend  by 
the  fixed  and  40  per  oent  by  the  variaUe  expenses;  and  tliat  has  an  in- 
stantaneous demand  that  about  equab  the  eapadty  of  the  idant.  The 
fixed  expenses,  on  the  basis  stated,  amount  to  a  total  of  $10,800  tat  the  year, 
at  S36  pet  kilowatt  of  demand  per  year.  This  txpuDM  remains  the  same 
whetlur  the  pluit  is  operated  one,  two,  or  three  houn  daily,  or  even  if  it 
is  in  operatiim  all  day.  Sueh  being  the  ease  it  must  fdlow  that  the  fixed 
cost  per  Idlowatt  hour  deoroases  with  the  inereaso  in  tl»B  output.  .  .  . 
Thus  the  fixed  cost  p«r  Idlowatt  hour  for  different  hours  of  daily  operation 
is  as  follows :  When  the  plant  is  in  opnation  ona  hour  daily,  0.86  eents; 
two  hours  daily,  4.93  cents;  three  hours  daily,  3.20  cmts;  five  horns 
daily,  1.97  cents ;  and  ten  hours  daily,  .99  cents. 

"The  variable  expenses,  according  to  our  assumption,  amount  to 
17,200  a  year  when  the  plant  is  in  operation  an  avwage  oi  four  hours  a 
day.  This  means  a  variable  cost  of  1 .65  oenta  p«r  idlowatt  hour,  which  in- 
creases or  decreases  in  exact  proportion  to  the  increase  or  deoreaee  in  the 
number  of  kilowatt  hours  generated. 

"The  total  cost  of  the  current  is  thus  made  up  of  a  fixed  and  a  variaUe 
expense.  When  these  are  reduced  to  a  unit  basis  and  added  togetlier,  the 
results  shown  in  the  foUowing  table  are  obtained :  — 


• 

NvMBBB  or  HooM  xn  Plant 
IS  Ophutio  Dailt 

noD 

Vasubi.* 

Total 

(Csne  raa  S.W. 

Heim) 

1 
3 

t 

S 

10 

9.86 
4.08 
3.29 
1.97 

1.65 
1.65 
1.65 
1.65 
1.65 

11.51 
6.58 
4.94 

zm 

2.64  » 

^-, ^ 


PUBLIC  LIOHTINO 


220 


unskilled  hands.  Such  tables  of  cost  as  are  compiled  with- 
out a  careful  study  of  the  load-factor  may  be  dismissed  as 
worthless  or  worse.  Every  electrician  realizes  the  extent  to 
which  great  variations  in  this  matter  may  affect  unit  costs.^ 
From  time  to  time  one  encounters  statistics  of  public- 
lighting  costs  reckoned  in  terms  per  capita  of  population, 
or  per  square  mile  of  city 
area,  or  per  mile  of  streets, 
or  on  some  similar  general 
basis.  For  reasons  indicated 
in  the  foregoing  paragraph, 
however,  such  tabulations 
can  be  of  no  great  service 
to  the  serious  studoit  of 
comparative  costs  and  are 
sure  to  give  all  other  persons 
a  misleading  impression ;  for 
cities  vary  greatly  in  their 
density  of  population,  in  the  relation  of  their  street  mileage 
to  area,  in  the  classification  of  streets  for  lighting  purposes,  in 
the  quaUty  of  their  lights,  in  the  heif^t  and  spacing  of  lamps, 
as  well  as  in  all  the  other  factors  indicated  a  moment  ago.' 

'The  subjoined  onrvB  ihowB  the  denumd  upon  the  Edison  Electiio 
liluminating  Company's  plant  at  Boston  on  Deoember  23, 1913,  in  tenns 
of  thousands  ai  kilowatt  units. 

'  The  foUowing  tabulation,  publiahed  in  a  Boston  newspaper  about  a 
year  ago,  purports,  for  example,  to  give  useful  information  as  to  relative 
street-lighting  costs  in  eight  leading  Americian  cities :  — 


M 

B^H 

\: 

\ 

\ 

f  ^ 

\ 

%  4* 

~> 

^ 

1- 

"^ 

\ 

7 

V 

> 

f 

\ 

\m 

~1 

^^ 

tt 

'lXf'""'^t%i7*J 

isi 

Cnr 

Coot  mCAiRA 
ovForaAmai 

Cgn  naSooABS 
l(iuo»  Amu 

Cow  ram  Mm 
ov  Oiaasis 

New  York 
Chicago 
Philaddpfaii 
St.  Louis 
Boston  . 
Baltimore 
Clevehuid 
Detroit  . 

\ 

80.80 
0.tf 
1.00 
1.00 
1.16 
0J8 

810,42bXn 
6368.00 
19,168.00 
11300.00 
16362.00 
14,660.00 

81.090.00 
286.00 

1.411.00 
784.00 

1363.00 
81230 

0.67 
038 

8.170.00 
4,106X)0 

26230 

OwMtal 

oompariaoaa 

o(< 


230     PRINCIPLES  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

The  only  sure  way  of  determining  whether  the  cost  of 
How  to        public  lighting  in  any  city  is  or  is  not  excessive  consists  in 
ingeortain    making  a  careful  study  of  all  the  local  factors  that  enter 
•ringieoity.  jjj^  ^j^g  problem.    This  is  an  undertaking  that  demands 
both  skill  and  experience;  for  in  its  performance  numy 
technical   questions  relating  to   such  matters  as  proper 
allowances  for  depreciation,  the  relation  of  normal  to  ab- 
normal loads,  and  so  on,  must  be  answered.    So  carefully, 
however,  have  some  of  the  methods  of  procedure  in  this 
line  of  investigation  been  mapped  out  in  recent  years,^  that 
any  municipality  can  without  much  difficxUty  get  accurate 
and  dependable  data  concerning  the  actual  cost  of  supply- 
ing light,  if  its  officiab  go  the  right  way  about  it. 


THE  COST  OF  PUBUC  UOHTINO  BT  GAS 


Themanu- 
(•ctureof 
CM  for 
public 

Hgtiting. 


American  cities  that  are  in  close  proximity  to  the  natural 
gas  sometimes  draw  their  supplies  from  wells  owned  either 
by  themselves  or  by  private  companies ;  but,  as  gas  wells 
usually  run  out  before  many  years,  cities  find  it  unwise 
to  depend  wholly  upon  this  source  of  supply.  Other 
mimicipalities,  however,  have  to  use  manufactured  gas, 
which  may  be  coal  gas,  or  water  gas,  or  a  combination 
of  both.  In  the  production  of  coal  gas  the  bituminous 
coal  is  heated  in  a  retort  imtil  it  is  decomposed  and 
the  gas  driven  out.  In  the  case  of  water  gas,  hard  coal 
or  coke  is  made  incandescent  by  means  of  an  air  blast ; 
steam  is  then  forced  through  this  incandescent  coal, 
and  in  so  passing  becomes  water  gas.  This  water  gas  is 
not  used  alone,  but  serves  as  a  carrier  for  oil  gas,  which 
is  made  at  the  same  time  by  the  destructive  distiUatikn 

'  See  the  inveatigstion  of  municipal  electrio  fduits  in  the  NsUtnal 
Civie  Federation's  Report  <m  Municipal  and  PriiaU  OperiOiott  tf  PvUie 
UtaUiet  (3  vols.,  New  York,  1907),  pt.  ii.  vol.  i.  665-884 ;  and  th«  WiMOO- 
■in  Railroad  Commiarioa'a  Report  on  the  Coit  of  Strett  Lighting  <»  If  A- 
UKtukee  (Madiatm,  1914). 


^^ 


PUBUO  UOHTINO 


231 


of  oil.*    Coal  gas  is  purified  by  being  passed  through 
various  cleansing  appliances  that  remove  the  smoke,  the 
hydrogen  sulphide,  and  the  ammonia  liquor;   from  the 
purifiers  it  goes  to  the  gas  reservoir  or  holder,  and  thence 
is  forced  through  the  mains  to  the  smaller  holders  and  to  the 
lamps.    By-products  of  the  process  are  the  coke  that  re- 
mains in  the  retort,  the  tar  left  in  the  condensers,  and  the 
ammonia  that  remains  in  the  purifying  boxes.     It  will  thus 
be  seen  that  the  cost  of  making  gas  is  dependent  upon 
many  factors,  — the  cost  of  materiab,  including  coal  and 
oil,  the  rate  of  wages  paid  for  labor,  and  the  prices  which 
can  be  obtained  for  by-products.     Such  a  factor  as  the 
steadiness  of  the  daily  demand  is  also  influential  in  gas  as 
in  electric  plants.    Under  large-scale  conditions  gas  can  be 
produced  at  a  net  cost  of  from  thirty  to  fifty  cents  per 
thousand  cubic  feet,  a  figure  that  covers  all  expenditures 
for  capital  charges,  materials,  and  all  labor  used  in  manu- 
facture, but  does  not,  of  course,  include  the  cost  of  storage 
or  of  distribution.* 
But  the  cost  of  producing  gas  is  not  the  only  factor,  and 

may  not  be  even  the  main  one,  in  reckoning  the  annual  ""» 

cost  per  public  gas  h»np.    First  of  aU  there  is  the  expense  SUSSJW 
of  providing  holders,  distributing  mains,  and  governors,  Sltrf* 
likewise  that  of  maintaining  and  repairing  the  posts,  re-  WwV 
placing  mantles  and  globes,  and  cleaning  the  lamps.    More 
important  as  an  item  of  cost  is  the  expenditure  for  the 
labor  involved  in  Kghting  and  extinguishing  the  lamps 
every  evening  and  morning.    This  is  an  extremely  variable 
item.    When  the  work  is  done  by  schoolboys  (as  it  is  in 
some  smaller  cities)  the  cost  is  slight,  but  the  results  are 
often  unsatisfactory.    When  it  is  done  by  the  company's 

'  A  general  denription  of  the  prooeMM  may  be  found  in  Chariee  Baaker- 
viUe  8  Munmptd  Ckemittry  (New  York,  1911),  eh.  xix  (pp.  800^10). 

.,  ^  B,  G.  Cowdery  and  W.  R.  Addioks.  "The  Manufacture  and  Dia- 
tnbution  of  niuminatinsr  Oaa.  with  i^Mcial  Referanoe  to  Lightiiig,"  in  the 
19U)'  i  27?-S^"^  *"  lUuminaHng  gnginterinf  (2  TOb..  Baltimora. 


Baduebig 
UboroosU 
iqrthenae 
ofanto- 
nutie  light- 
ing uides- 
tingniahing 
dcvioM. 


232     PRINCIPLIS  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINI8T1UTI0N 

adult  employees  or  by  regulAr  dty  Uboren  on  the  pky 
roll  of  the  municipal  li|^ting  department,  —  by  men  wht 
get  the  city  laborer's  regular  rate  of  daily  pay  for  woii 
done  at  the  usual  dty  laborer's  rate  of  speed,  —  the  cos! 
is  relatively  large.  In  Boston  it  takes  one  hundred  and 
tec  men,  paid  at  the  rate  of  12.25  per  day,  to  look  aftei 
approximatdy  ten  thousand  lamps,  —  a  charge  of  aboul 
nine  dollars  a  year  per  lamp  for  labor  alone.  As  the  dty 
owns  the  poles  on  which  the  lamps  are  placed,  and  payi 
the  company  which  supplies  lamps,  globes,  gas,  and  laboi 
121.00  per  lamp  per  year,  only  about  112.00  is  left  foi 
g^,  globes,  mantles,  and  everything  exoq>t  labor.  A 
single-mantle  lamp  uses  about  four  cubic  feet  of  gas  pei 
hour,  or,  on  the  usual  aU-nig^t  schedule,  about  sizteoi 
thousand  cubic  feet  of  gas  per  year.  In  Chicago  the  annual 
cost  per  lamp  is  S22.38,  of  which  $9.00  is  paid  for  gas,  the 
balance  going  for  lamp  equipment,  labor,  and  supervision.' 
The  immediate  problem  of  cheap  public  lighting  by  gas  is, 
therefore,  one  of  reducing  what  is  now  an  undidy  large 
labor  cost. 

To  reduce  this  heavy  cost  for  labor  various  automatic 
lighting  and  extinguishing  devices  have  been  invented  and 
to  some  extent  put  into  use.  These  contrivances  are  <rf 
two  main  sorts,  the  pressure  type  and  the  clock  type.  In 
the  pressure  mechanism  there  is  a  device  which  responds  to 
a  sudden  increase  of  pressure  in  the  mains  and  opens  the 
valve  that  supplies  the  lamp ;  ignition  takes  pla(»  from  a 
lighted  pilot-tube  alongside,  and  extinguishing  from  a 
similar  increase  of  pressure  that  causes  the  device  to  close 
the  valve,  leaving  the  pilot  alight.  The  pressure  impulses 
are  controlled  from  the  distribution  stations.  In  the  clock 
contrivance,  on  the  other  hand,  the  gas  duct  that  supplies 
the  lamp  is  opened  by  dock  mechanism  at  the  time  set  on 
the  dial,  the  ignition  is  also  from  a  pilot,  and  the  extinguish- 
ing is  effected  by  a  clonng  of  the  duct  in  the  same  way  in 
>  NaiUnui  Municipal  Btriew,  iii.  U6  (Jaanary,  1»14). 


iiai 


jl 


M 


PUBUC  UOHTINO 


which  it  WM  opoied,  the  jnlotpflMne  being  kft  biurning. 
The  clock  mechMiiam  requires  poiodieal  winding  and  more 
care  than  the  preeeure  device,  but  it  is  said  to  be  far  more 
satigfactoiy.  Both  qrstems  have  been  tried  in  various 
foreign  cities  with  results  that  appear  to  be  {tfomising; 
experiments  have  also  been  made  in  America,  but  not  on  a 
large  scale.*  It  should  be  remembered,  howevw,  that  under 
any  system  of  automatic  lifting  and  extinguishing  a  certain 
amount  of  labor  will  still  be  needed  for  inspection,  cleaning, 
and  adjusting. 

It  has  been  customary,  in  street^ighting  contracts,  to 
designate  that  each  gas  lamp  shall  give  li^t  of  a  minimiiTT^  fUactka 
candle  power.  This  plan  may  have  had  its  merits  when  SSTSldL 
open-flame  jets  were  eveiywbere  employed;  but  under  g^ 
present-day  conditions,  with  mantle  lamps  almost  univw- 
sally  in  use,  it  is  questionable  whether  the  candle-power 
standard  is  of  much  sorvioe  in  gauging  the  quality  of  the 
gas  supplied.  The  efficiency  of  a  mantle  kunp  is  deto^ 
mined  by  the  thermal  or  heating  pot«itia]ity  of  the  gas. 
As  this  is  commonly  expressed  in  British  thermal  units,  the 
modem  practice  is  to  stipulate  that  the  gas  supplied  to 
street  lamps  (and  to  housdiolders  also)  shall  have  "a  heat- 
ing value  of  from  550  to  600  B.  t.  units."  Exactly  what 
thermal  power  the  gas  should  have  is  a  matter  for  experts 
to  determine  in  accordance  with  the  type  of  gas  used  and 
with  local  conditions  of  supply ;  if  natural  gas  is  employed 
the  requirement  as  to  thermal  units  should  be  set  a  great 
deal  higher.  It  is  obvious,  also,  that  the  phrase  "qualily 
of  gas"  covers  not  oviy  its  light-giving  and  heating  value 
but  its  freedom  from  impurities.  TUs,  however,  is  a  veiy 
involved  nmtter,  and  gas  ^igineers  are  far  from  unanimous 
in  their  opinions  as  to  what  specifications  on  this  score 

*  For  a  farthw  deaaription,  lee  the  p«>er  va  "Pria<^plM  uid  Dedga  of 
Exterior  mumiiwtkm  by  aM,"byB.  N-Wri^taactmi,  in  th*  Johns  Hiqtldiis 
iMfurM  on  lUuminaUitt  Enfimtrtitt  (2  Tolii..  Bkltimora,  1911),  fi.  g7»- 

879. 


Regulktiiig 

■MPW«. 


284     PIUNCIPLIS  OF  MUinOIFAL  ADMINISTllATION 

i 

•lumld  be  laid  down  by  a  dty  in  a  contract  for  public  light- i 
ing  or  by  a  regulating  commission  in  an  endeavor  to  protect 
private  customers.*    An  examination  of  the  rules  which  an 
being  issued  by  public-service  commissions  throughout  the 
oountiy  will  show,  however,  that  steady  progress  is  being  j 
made  toward  greater  definiteuMs  in  this  matter. 

The  problem  of  delivering  gas  to  lamps  at  proper  pressure 
deserves  mention.    In  the  matter  of  pressure  gas  differs 
from  water:  whereas  water  pressure  decreases  with  eleva- 
tion,  gas  pressure  increases,  the  estimated  increase  being  ^ 
about  an  inch  water  cohimn  for  eveiy  two  hundred  feet  of  = 
elevation.    In  the  earlier  stages  of  public  lighting,  gas  was  I 
distributed  through  the  mains  to  the  lamps  at  a  uniform 
low  pressure;   and  so  it  is  still  to  a  considerable  extent 
One  great   drawback  to  this   system,   however,  lies  in 
the  fact  that  at  lamps  located  in  the  low-lying  parts  <rf 
the  city  the  pressure  is  often  inadequate,  while  in  the 
higher  sections  it  may  be  excessive.    In  either  case  the  light 
is  unsatisfactory,  particularly  when  the  pressure  is  too  little;  ' 
but  to  some  extent  these  faults  can  be  overcome  by  mechani-  \ 
cal  contrivances  known  as  pressure  regulators.    When  the 
pressure  drops  below  one  and  one  half  inches  water  cohmm,  ] 
the  lij^t  is  rarely  satisfactory;   hence  a  city  that  makes 
pressure  stipulations  in  its  contract  should  insist  upon  this 
minimum  at  least.*    AUowances  for  a  reasonable  variation 
upward  should  also  be  provided  for,  however;  in  the  case 
of  manufactured  gas  a  maximum  of  six  or  eight  inches  is   ^ 

«/Jli!^      /        ' '  f^V  ^  P»'»n«ylv»iii».  nty  be  found  in  AnnaU    l 
mt)  ^^^  "  Acaa.,n,  of  PolUteal  and  Social  Seimee,  M.  a6&-277  (M»y, 

«otaSJli^!^T"  T  •^*"y  «PWMed  in  terms  of  "inoiiee  w»t« 
S^<S^1n*r"*''*!"°''r'^-      ApreMureofonepoundpertcpar. 

5»lv  rikS^'J^K'^^^r""  *•". ^  "  distributed  »t  pressures  wbfehSe 
i?l4SM^^.n^°''*'*''*°°"^?'*T"°'the.tm(»phere.  The  lattar 
WBototwL  "*"*"'  the  gM  pHwuw  addi  only  « 


PUBUO  UOHTmO 


385 


common^  allowed,  and  tot  natural  gat  n«ariy  double  tUi 
limit.  When  gas  is  distributed  throu|^  the  mains  at  high 
preMure  the  reduction  is  made  at  district  stations  or  at 
iDdividual  lamps.  Pressure  is  affected,  again,  not  only  by 
elevation  but  by  unsteadiness  of  consumption,  because  gas, 
like  electricity,  is  used  in  small  quantities  at  some  hours 
and  in  very  Uurge  amounts  at  others.*  In  outlying  districts 
an  allowance  must  also  be  made  for  the  effect  of  friction 
as  the  gas  passes  throufl^  long  distances  of  pipe,  and  the 
consequent  reduction  of  pressure  thovfrom.  In  a  hi^ 
pressure  system,  however,  these  factors  are  not  of  great 
importance. 


PDBUO-UGBTINO  OONTRACIB 

When  a  city  does  not  own  and  operate  a  lighting  plant  it 
must  secure  its  public  illuminants  l^  making  a  contract  Coatnan 
with  some  private  lighting  company.    This  contract  may  JSSd 
or  may  not  be  made  in  connection  with  the  granting  of  a  '"»"«*•»■ 
franchise.    LogicaUy  the  two  go  together,  for  the  company  '"** 
which  supplies  the  illuminant  for  public  use  is  the  natural 
one  to  serve  private  customers  as  well ;  but  the  special  ques- 
tions of  Ughting  franchises  will  be  dealt  with  a  little  later 
in  this  chapter.    We  are  now  concerned  only  with  the  ar- 
rangements under  which  the  city  buys  and  pays  for  the 
lighting  of  its  streets  and  other  public  pUces.    In  the 
negotiation  of  a  contract  for  public  lighting  several  con- 
troverted points  are  siure  to  arise  which  must  be  property 
settled  if  the  contract  is  to  prove  satisfactory  to  the  parties 
concerned.    How   long   should   the   contract   run?    Who 
should  supply  the  lighting  equipment,  that  is  to  say,  the 
poles,  brackets,  kmps,  globes,  mantles,  reflectors,  and  t>o 
forth?    Of  what  type  and  quaUty  should  each  of  these 

in  ljJrB^®^'/5'T*'*'*'****v*;!^**P^  "»^  *^  Prttw  CoHiitimu 
1.,  ^T"^^  ^'T^"**^'  PuWiriied  by  the  PaUio  Sflrvioe  Comini*. 
■on  for  the  Pint  Dirtriot,  New  Y<wk,  1912.  «*««"«•• 


i' 


The  proper 

ttrifialm 


236     PRINCIPUBR  or  MUNICIPAL  ADMINItnRATION 

laingi  be?  Under  what  conditiona  slumld  the  dty  be  en-^ 
titled  to  require  ciiaopg  in  Uunpe  or  other  tqutpment  •fter^ 
the  contrac-  ten  i  r-epof  ?  What  prioe  per  lamp  ehould  be  ^ 
paid,  and  ahoui  •  lUii  be  a  flat  rate  or  ehouid  it  be  made  ■ 
up  of  two  rates,  one  to  cover  fixed  oiet  and  tiie  other  depend-  \ 
ing  upon  the  BcheJule  of  Ughting  loure?  If  any  ediedule  \ 
other  tliaii  the  "jiil-mght  aiui  ev«rjr-night"  arr  gement  is  J 
eontemplat  !  what  itaucti  ;s  houkl  be  made  for  timet  i 
^hut  oil,  and  how  riiould  aceurate  \ 
-  be  kef* .  What  provinonn  houW  i 
^Hat  ^  lights  shall  be  U]^  <>  the  \ 
'  w  the  '    y  bert  prov.de  f«r  J 

,0        repairs,   aiul  how  \ 
to  sec  -  ae  reb.       ^Axen  some  lamps  \ 

ey  .      from  time  t     time,  — for  "out-  I 
ailurer  are  commonly  termed  in  lighting  ] 


wht  '  the  i,  ;ht  ifi 
record  of  lighting  h 
be  Ttii  lie  for  iivmn 
•^fecifivd  stanaard? 
Tprmsfn    relocation 


fail 
agesr 


It 
to 


*rrani?t 
am  ihe^^ 


what  way  can  it  contrive  to  snare  in 

'ch  improvemmts  in  lighting  methods  as 

rt  during  the  term  of  the  contra  <•*       These 

ther  questions  are  sure  to  confron  city 

enever  a  public-lighting  contract  i.  or 


veriiawi  r? 
t^  ben<>6t 
Bii^  be  ma 
and  various 

ithorities 
reaewf^d. 

Thi  first  quest    n,  then,  is  as  to  the  proper  terr         % 
lightiii  tract.     Let  it  be  made  clear  that  the  teru,    .  a 

public -ug  uing  contract  and  the  term  of  a  lighting /rondiise 
arp  two  etitirely  diflferent  things.  A  contract  with  a  private 
'  ompanj  for  Ughting  the  streets  may  come  to  an  end  while 
t  e  company's  franchise  to  all  the  streets  for  wires  and 
mwns  stil!  runs  on.  A  compact  could  hardly  take  a  con- 
trac  '^or  public  lighting  without  first  securing  a  franchise, 
but  is  '  ite  possible  for  it  to  have  a  franchise  to  serve 
imva  eusiomers  without  having  any  contract  for  public 
lifting.    From  the  nature  of  things,  the  term  of  a  pubhc 

'  A  gwd  brief  diacusdon  of  thsM  varioui  provui«MU  is  in  the  Wm- 
eonan  Rjilroad  CommiiBon's  Report  on  Uu  Cot  of  StreH  UghHnt  m  MO- 
woukee  (Madison,  1914). 


PUBUO  UOHTINO 


387 


Ughting  contract  may  weU  be  moeh  diorter  than  the  term 
of  a  franehue.    It  i.,  indeed,  to  the  city'a  interest  that 
the  duration  of  the  fcmner  ahaU  be  very  limited  ;    in 
fact,  a  contract   renewable  from  year  to  year  would  suit 
the  taxpayer  best  if  it  could  be  arranged  for  him,  and 
for  obvious  reasons.    For  one  thing,  eo  many  advances  in 
lighting  equipment  and  methods  aro  being  made  aU  the 
time  that  a  h^^ting  system  which  is  up  to  date  to-day  may 
be  away  behind  the  times  ten  yean,  or  even  five  years 
from  now.    Not  only,  moreover,  has  the  cost  of  producing 
lUuminants  been  steadily  coming  down,  but  new  appliances 
and  new  methods  are  constantiy  being  brought  into  use. 
aU  of  thsm  tending  to  reduce  the  cost  of  making  and  dis- 
tnbutmg  light.    The  taxpayer,  of  coune,  insists  that  these 
redu(  tions  in  cost  should,  in  part  at  least,  redound  to  his 
benefit ;   and  this  result  the  city  can  be  certain  to  secure 
only  when  it  makes  the  contract  renewable  at  short  inters 
vals,  or  when  it  inserts  in  a  long-term  contract  some  pro- 
vision for  the  automatic  reduction  of  prices  as  cost  of  pro- 
duction  decUnes.    Provisions  of  this  latter  sort,  however, 
aredifficult  to  frame  and  even  more  difficult  to  enforce. 

The  company,  on  the  other  hand,  desires  to  make  its 
contract  for  public  hghting  extend  over  a  considerable  term 
of  years.  Since  to  handle  the  work  of  public  lighting  in- 
volves, in  most  cases,  a  considerable  investment  of  capital 
the  company  should  have  reasonable  assurance  of  a  fair 
return  on  such  investment,  and  this  cannot  very  weU  be 
given  on  any  year-to-year  basis.*  There  is  a  good  deal 
to  be  said  for  the  indeterminate  contract,  as  for  the  in- 
determinate franchise,  wherever  there  exists  a  pubUe 
regulating  body  possessinQr   r  aty  the  conf    ^o^  of  both 

'  In  the  oMe  of  are  deetr 
bundred  doOan  p«r  lamp  i« 
nr  from  two  to  tlffee  he 
Definite  figures,  baaed  on  i 
on  "Munieipal  Ui^tins  Rat. 
feu  nee  of  AmtrieoH  Ma^or.i 


^-?^ 


f^ 


Seeurint 

raduotioiu 

durinctbe 

oontraet 

Una. 


238     PRINCIPLES  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

parties  and  vested  with  power  to  settle  all  questions  which 
may  arise  between  them;  but  where  this  plan  cannot  be 
followed  the  ten-year  term  has  come  to  be  regarded  as 
a  rather  fair  compromise  between  the  conflicting  interests 
of  the  city  and  the  company.  When,  however,  the  poles 
and  Ump  eq.  .pment  belong  to  the  city  a  shorter  term 
may  properly  be  insisted  upon.  Sometimes  the  promise 
of  a  seemingly  low  price  per  lamp  induces  the  city  author- 
ities  to  grant  a  company's  demands  for  a  fifteen-  or  even 
a  twenty-year  term;  but  this  poUcy  is  almost  sure  to 
prove  poor  economy  in  the  long  run. 

A  possible  solution  of  the  problem  of  a  proper  contract 
term  is  suggested  by  the  public-Ughting  agr«".tment  made 
between  the  city  of  Boston  and  the  Edison  Company  in  1914. 
This  contract  is  for  a  ten-year  term  at  prices  tentatively 
set  forth  lu  a  schedule  of  fixed  and  running  costs  per  lamp. 
It  IS  stipulated,  however,  that  as  soon  as  the  contract  goes 
mto  effect  a  request  shaU  be  made  to  the  state  board  of  gas 
and  electric  commissioners  to  determine  whether  the  prices 
set  forth  in  this  schedule  are,  on  the  whole,  fair.    If  thk 
board,  after  a  study  of  aU  local  conditions  affecting  the 
cost  of  producing  and  distributing  electricity,  decides  that 
the  prices  named  in  the  schedule  are  too  high,  it  may  reduce 
them.    It  is  further  provided  that  after  the  expiration  of 
five  years,  or  midway  in  the  contract  term,  another  such 
mquiry  shaU  be  made  by  the  same  board,  with  similar 
authonty  to  change  the  prices  at  that  time  if  any  adequate 
reason  for  doing  so  should  appear.*    The  arrangements 
« "The  pwtiea  to  thia  Agnemoit  ihaU  forthwith  aDon  it>  aim»>i 
i^Z  "T^  '^  Board  rf  Om  and  EleotriTuiht  SSrfSKto 

5,in™!J^'  ^  ^^L  ''*''  **''*°«  *»*»  •««»«»»  «» »«»»«th  of  the  tan. 
rwult  of  the  mvettigation.  the  Board  diaU  determine  tSuaftSi pS^ti 
the  entoe«,rvioe  applied  to  the  Munidpdity  i.  Ie«  than^^ 

fh^^J?  ^^"^  B  may  be  reduced  by  the  Board  in  roS  aZm 

SlM^J^i!^  "i^  %  •**?  •**"  °«*  ^  ^^»^  *^  that  tStoUlU 
m»aU  by  the  MnnieipaUty  ehall  not  be  lew  than  the  fair  priMTlteL » 


PUBUC  LIGHTING 


239 


made  in  thu  contract  suggest  a  method  whereby  a  lifting 
company  may  be  favored  with  a  reasonably  long  term, 
while  the  city,  on  the  other  hand,  is  assured  of  a  share  in 
whatever  benefits  may  come  from  new  methods  during  the 
contract  term.  This  solution  of  the  problem  is  only  prac- 
ticable, however,  in  a  state  that  has  a  public-utihties  com- 
mission enjoying  the  confidence  of  companies  and  munici- 
palities aUke.  No  such  discretionary  powers  could  be  safely 
intrusted  to  a  body  that  stands  under  the  thumb  of  either 
interest. 


OTHER  QUBSnONB  IN  UGHTINO  OONTBACre 

Apart  from  the  general  question  as  to  whether  a  city 
should  own  and  operate  its  lifting  phint,— that  is,  the  BbmOdth* 
generating  stations  or  gas  works,  as  the  case  may  be,  —  JgttJT'*' 
there  is  the  more  special  question  with  reference  to  public  •«"'«»«»» 
ownership  of  poles,  kmps,  and  accessories.    A  contract 
may  provide  for  either  public  or  private  ownership  of  these 
things;  some  citiee  have  followed  one  policy  and  some  the 
other.    From  such  experience  as  we  have  had,  however,  it  is 
difficult  to  tell  which  is  the  more  economical  plan.    The  city's 

tire  iervioe  m  d«tflnniMd  by  th*  Bowd.  If  mtM  an  ndiuwd  ia  the 
manner  hardn  provided  raeh  radiMMd  mtos  duOl  be  rabetituted  (h»m 
SJte'.'*  "*  *^  •«'*««*  '«  «»  ooBe-Pondiii,  »««.  umed  ia 

''Attheendof  IhreyMnfrmnditteiriMntbiaAcnenMiitbeeoiiMecffeo- 
tnre  both  partie.  diiJl  forthwitb  jointly  «qw.t  iSfioSd  totoSSS 

hv  »^~?  ^  ^F*^  "«»* «»  SohedutoB  M  they  im^  have  benSS 
by  the  first  invejtigation  oT  Mid  Boeni  or  m  they  n^iy^ve  be«nd^ 
^d«  theprovirioneof  AjrtIA 

S^^w  J{^^  "*!**  ■•»"  «»•*«»*«>•  ••  •  ""»!*  ot  thfa  ieeond  iaveeti. 
gfttion  th»t  the  totid  paymeate  to  the  Comply  aeoordiac  to  themteei 

^u^-^i^i"  B  «  they  ««y  hare  beSTtod^ti?  £Sd  iftiS 
Sl^Ju^j!^:;^^*'':^^  U-y  --y  h.v.  bei  ndae«l  aetfaS 
wd  iho^  be  inoeaeed  or  daenaeed.  H  ihaU  fix  the  prieei  ia  aeeordaaee 
rf  ttrS'-.i?***"^!!^  Md  they  dad!  be  appHeable  (tan  the  begiaaiar 
«r.S,**'*^f?*?'^«"««»-  •n>»I«*»"«»dbytheBo«dfaAi 
nnt  or  Koond  iaveat^atitNi  diaB  be  mbjeet  to  ledaeticn  ae 
provided  ia  Article  4  of  thie  A^mamAr  '•"""^  "" 


240     PRINCIPLES  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

ownerahip  of  public-lighting  equipment  involves  a  laige 
capital  expenditure,  and  in  this  as  in  aU  other  branches  of 
administration  the  taxpayer  usuaUy  has  to  pay  more  than 
the  ordinary  wholesale  price  for  whatever  the  city  buys 
directly,*    There  is  also  the  danger  that  in  buying  its  light- 
ing  equipment  the  city  will  get,  not  what  is  best  and  most 
diirable,  but  rather  what  is  forced  upon  it  by  those  who  can 
bring  political  influence  to  bear  upon  the  authorities  in 
behalf  of  their  own  wares.    To  brush  aU  this  aside  with  the 
suggestion  that  there  is  no  reason  why  the  city  should  pay 
more  than  any  one  else,  does  not  in  any  way  alter  the  teal 
facts  of  the  situation.    On  the  other  hand,  there  is  much 
to  be  said  in  favor  of  the  city's  owning  its  lighting  equip- 
ment (apart  from  the  lighting  phmt  itself).    Even  though 
this  pohcy  may  be  more  expensive,  it  at  least  puts  the  city 
in  a  much  better  position  to  keep  pace  with  improvements 
m  lighting  appliances  by  repkcing  a  portion  of  its  lamps 
each  year  with  newer  types.    It  also  simpUfies  greatly  the 
making  of  a  contract  with  a  private  company  for  current 
or  for  gas;  for  in  such  case  the  contract  becomes  a  meie 
agreement  to  purchase  one  designated  thing  at  a  sUted 
pnce,  without  raising  any  question  as  to  return  on  invest- 
ment in  equipment  or  in  cost  of  maintaining  it.    Since 
public  lighting  is  a  natural  monopoly  and  in  the  long  run 
IS  bound  to  become  everywhere  a  legal  monopoly  as  wbD, 
It  may  not  always  be  possible  to  secure  competitive  bids 
under  this  arrangement;  but  it  is  at  any  rate  easier  to 

« "New  York  bnyi  probiridy  tlS,000,000  worth  of  lappliM  par  aaatm 
for  eurnuit  opmUoD  »ad  Buiatonuee.    Yet  it  pay.  l^STK^S 

▼*o;««le  quutitiee  but  dcei  not  obtda  wlioleMle  t^mT  ItrJ^Ll 

V.       V^i  '^\  eitte  tr«le  or  e«h  dfaeouaf  "^  a!  oKiS 

.».  .s  .  <«I^dm^irtr«liw»  and  AcanmtU^  New  York.  1909.  pp.  2R-»). 

»  u  BO  eoKtpentkm  between  depMtmenta  by  ponbMiut  the  hum 

AU  tbe  pnnhMiac  ■«wit«  ofatim  that  they  obtirfa  whdtek  Bcie«  .  .  . 
1^  yet  OM  pwe^ri^  ageat  doet  not  know,  ouept  by  Mo^ot.  what 
price  another  i.  payia,,  nor  what,  when  or  wb^re  he  ie  taJSrOT 
Finance  Conuniwon,  ««j»rtt,  1915,  X.  288).  »•»«»««     I' 


•HJ^ 


PUBUC  UORTINQ 


241 


determjne  whether  the  prices  Charged  are  fair.  Many  of 
the  most  vexmg  problems  that  arise  every  time  a  pubUo- 
lightmg  contract  IS  renewed  would  be  put  out  of  the  way 
If  all  cities  would  adopt  the  policy  of  providing  their  own 
poles,  lamps,  and  street  equipment.       *-  »  "'^ 

It  has  been  observed  that  a  considerable  part  of  the  price 

of  labor  for  hghtmg  and  extinguishing  street  kmps.    When  ^SSS^ 
the  gas  company  owns  the  lamps,  a  pubUo-lighting  contract 
usuaUy  provides  for  their  hghting  and  extinSahiL  by  the 
company  «  own  Ubor  force;  when  the  city  owT^em^  the 
municipal  hghtmg  department  ordinarily  supplier  Uie  kbor. 
The  latter  pohcy  is  likely  to  be  the  more  e^n.:.e,  for  ttte 
city  not  only  pays  more  for  its  labor  but  often  does  not  get 
as  effici^t  service.    Under  its  management  hunps  are  liable 
to  be  hghted  too  eariy  and  left  burning  too  longV  and  from 
hese  riipshod  methods  there  seems  to  be  no  ^ape,  si^^ 
8tnct  disciphne  never  can  be  maintained  so  long  as  Ubor 
and  pohtics  are  commin^ed.    With  the  use  of  automatic 
devices,  howev^,  this  objection  would  in  huge  mea«m, 
disappear ;  for  the  Ubor  force  could  be  reduced  to  the  smaU 
number  ^men  necessaiy  to  keep  the  lamps  cleaned  and  in 
repair.    The  pohcy  of  owning  its  gasJighting  equipment 
would  not  th«i  be  unduly  expensiveloZ  dty.^^*^  W 

however,  as  the  cost  of  labor  is  a  large  element  in  the  cort 
of  service,  a  strong  argument  against  the  pubUc  ownendiip 
and  care  of  lamp  equipment  wUl  remain. 
It  is  easy  enoujjx  to  specify  in  a  pubKe-li^ting  contract 
hat  a  wmpany  shaU  provide  and  maintain  gas  or  dectric  M-tat-- 
lamps  of  such-and-such  candle  power,  but  it  is  not  so  e«ry  SS^IIS: 
to  make  rare  that  the  amount  of  light  so  specified  shall  be  ---SS 
ddiyered  by  every  hffiip  throu^out  the  year.    Most  con- 
tracts provide  that  the  city  shaU  have  a  ri^t  to  make  tests 

TrLc^^Lr^^  "^^  diaw  the  light  to  be  below  the 
prescribed  standard  a  deduction  therefor  shaU  be  aUowed 
«  w  also  stipuUted,  as  a  rule,  that  whenever  lamps  are  r^ 


242     PRINCIPLES  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

ported  as  being  out  of  service  a  pro-rata  reduetion  shall  be 
made  in  the  city's  lighting  bill.    But  a  proper  forcemeat 
of  these  provisions  in  the  city's  interest  involves  the  main- 
tenance of  a  regular  inspecting  staff,  with  one  or  more  fully 
equipped  testing  stations ;  for  groups  of  lamps  on  different 
mains  or  circuits  have  to  be  tested  very  frequently  and  with 
great  care,  a  necesdty  which  not  only  entails  considerable 
expense  but  requires  the  employment  of  men  who  will  be 
competent  and  trustworthy.    TTieir  work  is  rendered  still 
more  difficult  by  the  fact  that  most  street-lighting  contracts 
neglect  to  make  it  clear  whether  the  candle  power  is  to  be 
measured  at  the  horisontal  of  the  light  or  somewhere  below 
it.    In  the  case  of  gas  the  obsolete  specification  in  terms  of 
candle  power  has  often  proved  a  perplexing  obstacle.    Like- 
wise, when  tests  are  applied,  reasonable  allowance  must  be 
made  for  the  fact  that  neither  electric  nor  gas  meters  will 
always  register  with  perfect  accuracy.    Finally,  it  must  be 
remembered  that  service  regulations  which  are  too  strict 
usually  do  more  harm  than  good ;  for  not  only  are  the  iih 
spectors  loath  to  enforce  them,  but  the  city,  by  insisting  upw 
them,  merely  puts  upon  the  contracting  company  a  need- 
less expense  which  in  the  long  run  reacts  upon  itself.    The 
specifications  in  a  public-lij^ting  contract  relating  to  quality 
of  service  should  be  few  and  flexible ;  they  should  deal  with 
the  ends,  not  with  the  means  of  securing  them ;  they  should 
allow  fair  latitude  in  methods  and  management.    It  shodd 
*  not  be  taken  as  axiomatic  that  a  lighting  company  will 
always  give  poor  service  if  it  gets  the  opportunity.    C3<m- 
tracts  framed  on  this  hypothesis  are  Ukely  to  compel  defec- 
tive service,  whether  the  company  wants  to  give  it  or  not 
The  practical  difficulties  of  inspection  and  of  keeping  as 
Ti»««doi^  accurate  record  of  outages  are  greatly  leswmed  when  the 
faigiMiM.     mimicipal  authorities  provide  themsdvee  with  a  proper 
lamp-map  of  the  city.    Many  munuipalities  have  si^ 
maps;    others  have  none.    The  lamp-map  is  an  ottUlne 
plan  showing  all  the  streets,  squares,  bridges,  parin,  uA 


PUBUC  UOHTINO 


243 


other  pubKc  property  of  the  city.  The  location  of  every 
lamp  «  accurately  derigned  on  this  map  by  mel  of  IS 
or  «n^  thumb-tack.,  a  different  color  bei^  u«ed  to  di> 
nate  the  type  of  lamp,  whether  flame  or  mLtle,  arc  or^ 
candescent.  Every  lamp  i«  numbered  and  is  alwai^^ 
ferred  to  by  Its  number.  The  device  i.  so  patently ^fol^ 
classifymg  complaints,  in  determining  thradviibility  S 
movmg  lamp-poets  from  one  l^S  to  anoTer  oT  of 
changmg  the  type  of  U«np  uaed,  -  it  is,  indeed,  so  se^I 
able  from  eveiy  point  of  view  as  to  exdte  wondW  ihJTZ 
city  should  be  without  it.  ^ 

HOW  PUBUCUGHTINO  00NTIU01»  MAY  BE  niPBOVlSD 

thi°2°  f"?  <*«Pf*«^«»t  Of  municipal  administration  have 
liu!  !r    ""  °'  "^r  ^  ^««  Batisfactoiy  thT]^  r,^^^ 
pubbc-nghtmg  contracts.   Such  a.  have  been  inserted  in  thJS  K!lS?*- 
contracte  are  «  a  rule  the  wo.k  of  the  dty  engine^^  ^Z  ^^^ 

fn.r^^°''*,''^°^  The  n»ult  ha.  been  that  conCZ 
^dT^  ^^"^*?  '°''  -o  many  Umps  of  such-and^ 
^nd^e  power,  and  let  thing,  go  at  that.  Yet  the  a««nS 
candle  pow«  of  a  kmp  may  be  altogether  wide  of  iHJS 
mtensity.    A  notableexample  of  this  discrepancy  i^^ 

ttt  f h  ^^"^  2000^dlc^wer,»  only  to  find  out  lat« 

^  2SS^^lr^r  ^*«»^*y  of  the^««aUed  "rtaLt 

JTwf^lltrT    *"  ^"  not  more  than  600  candle 
power  when  properly  mearored.    During  the  subseawmt 

^l^mZZ^  '^  "^  iUuminatilJ^  ^^^ 
£  !^    **    *  *^^  '^"^"y  ^"  -ubstantiaUy  meeting 

the  h0.t  which  the  htenU  term,  of  if  contract  app«««l  to 


OiMtet 


riionldbe 
twMiiltcd. 


244     PRINCIPLKS  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

Contracts  for  public  lighting  should  not  merely  specify 
the  nominal  candle  power  of  the  lamps  required.  They 
should  indicate  definitely  the  actual  intensity  of  the  eleetrie 
lamp  and  the  method  of  determining  this  intensity,  wheth  - 
by  a  test  of  mean  horisontal  candle  power  or  by  oiu:  i 
mean  lower  hemispherical  values;  and  in  the  case  of  jjat 
lamps  they  should  designate  not  only  the  candle  power 
and  the  method  of  measuring  it,  but  the  thermal  vahie 
of  the  gas  as  weU.  This  latter  value  is,  indeed,  much  the 
more  important  item. 

The  actual  candle  power  of  a  street  lamp,  again,  is  onfy 
one  factor  in  its  efficiency,  even  though  it  be  the  most  im- 
portant one.    The  way  in  which  the  light  is  set,  the  quality 
of  the  globes,  the  nature  and  placing  of  the  refleoton,  — 
these  and  many  other  things  have  their  part  in  maldng 
street  hunps  do  their  work  property  or  otherwise.    In  the 
contracts  which  private  concerns  make  for  their  interior 
lighting  all  such  things  are  specified  with  great  minutoiees; 
but  in  this  domain  of  administration  the  city  has  rardy 
been  alive  to  the  full  protection  of  its  own  intoests.    It 
buys  units  of  assumed  candle  power  set  up  in  the  air,  when 
what  it  reaUy  wants  is  actual  light  down  on  the  surface  of 
the  streets.    A  proper  lighting  contract  should  be  as  specific 
in  its  provisions  as  any  contract  for  street  paving  or  for 
sewage  disposal.    Street   and  sanitary  engineering  have 
been  brought  to  so  high  a  state  of  development  in  America 
that  in  these  departments  a  city  usually  gets  the  complete 
fulfilment  of  an  eUborate  bargain;   but  the  illuminating 
engineer,  even  when  there  is  one  in  the  community,  is  rarefy 
consulted  by  the  city  when  it  proceeds  to  make  a  lighthig 
contract.    The  result  is  that  much  of  what  it  pays  for  in 
the  way  of  public  lighting  is  dieer  waste.    Every  ray  of 
light  costs  money ;  eveiy  ray  that  is  misdirected  or  impeded 
represents  money  wasted.    To  adopt  this  or  that  type  of 
lamp  because  some  neighboring  property-ownos  think  ft 
attractive  is  a  very  costly  policy;   and  yet  n«^b<^iood 


PUBUC  UOHTINO 


345 


caprice  and  local  whim*  Iuv«  a  large  vmce  in  such  matters 
UHiay.  It  18  probably  quite  within  bounds  to  say  that 
nearly  one  quarter  of  our  eipenditures  for  pubUo  lighting 
could  be  saved  without  serious  injury  to  the  public  conven- 
ience, if  absolutely  no  consideration  but  lighting  effioien<sy 
were  taken  into  account. 

As  a  rule,  also,  publio-li«^ting  contracts  have  b<)en  de- 
fective in  thdr  provisions  relating  to  rates  for  additional 
lamps  ordered  after  the  contract  term  has  begun.    It  is 
only  reasonable  that  during  the  earlier  part  of  a  ten-year 
term  the  chief  burden  of  the  cost  involved  in  mnigng  these 
additions  should  be  borne  by  the  contracting  company, 
but  it  is  equally  reasonable  that  during  the  last  two  or  three 
years  of  the  contract  term  the  city  should  contribute  the 
larger  portion  of  what  the  additional  lamps  may  cost.    So 
with  the  moving  and  rdocating  of  lamp-posts.     Since  this 
shifting  involves  an  expmae  that  cannot  be  accurately  esti- 
mated when  the  initial  rates  are  fixed,  provision  ought  to  be 
made  in  the  contract  for  apportioning  the  cost  fairiy  as  the 
occasions  arise.    likewise,  there  is  need  for  a  careful  fram- 
ing of  the  provisions  that  relate  to  the  quality  of  the  service 
and  to  outages.    It  is  not  enou^  that  the  company  should 
merely  fail  to  receive  pay  for  a  lamp  during  the  hours  in 
which  it  is  deficient;  the  outage  deductim  should  be  in 
the  nature  of  a  penalty  to  insure  nu>re  careful  operation. 
In  making  contracts  for  pubUc  lighting,  furthermore,  there 
18  a  too  frequent  tendency  to  side-step  many  difficult  matters 
of  detail  by  providing  in  a  goneral  way  that  all  disputes  on 
questions  not  qMdfiealfy  covered  in  the  agreement  shall  be 
settled  by  arbitration.    That  cities  rarely  get  much  out  of 
these  arbitrations  unless  the  mediating  body  is  a  pidilie 
commission  or  board,  experience  has  abundantiy  shown. 
Private  arbitrationa  are  both  expoisive  and  slow.    As  a 
party  to  such  proceedings,  i&(»eovar,  the  dty  is  neaify 
always  outmatched  in  the  skOI  wHh  wfaiefa  the  daims  of  the 
other  side  are  presented  to  the  arbitnitort. 


IwAad 


Pablio 


Ea«etrio 


OuUght- 


246     PRINOIPLW  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINiaTRATION 
PUBUC  UOBUNG  IN  FSUkCTKm 

Hie  mechanism  and  oo«t  of  street  lifl^ting  may  peiliapt  bi 
understood  mora  raadily  by  the  aid  of  some  facts  and  figum 
taken  from  the  experience  of  one  or  two  American  dtics, 
In  Boston  a  general  division  is  made  between  principal  and 
minor  streets.    TTie  former,  which  include  all  the  more 
important  businesB  thoroug^ares  as  weU  as  some  streets  in 
the  residential  districts,  are  lighted  chiefly  by  6.6  ampen^ 
direct-cuK-ont,  enclosed  electric  are,  magnetite  Umps,  whieii 
give  an  actual  intensity  of  about  eig^t  hundred  candle 
power  measured  in  mean  lower  hemiqiherieal  values  at  the 
Ump  itself.    The  lamps  are  set  on  wooden  poles,  chiefy 
with  brackets,  at  heights  averaging  twenty-five  feet  above 
the  street  level,  and  are  spaced  at  intervals  of  from  one 
hundred  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet.    Whenever  prae- 
ticable,  they  are  located  at  street  inteieeotions.    In  some 
of  the  minor  business  thoroug^ares  and  in  a  few  resi- 
dential streets  single  incandescent  lamps  are  provided  on 
posts  from  twelve  to  fourteen  feet  in  height.    Hmw  in- 
candescent lamps  give  in  some  oases  sixty  candle  power 
and  in  others  forty  candle  power,  measured  at  the  li^t  in 
terms  of  mean  horisontal  values.    They  are  spaced  at  inter- 
vals of  about  fifty  feet.    The  equipment  and  cunent  are 
supplied  under  a  ten-year  contract  by  the  Edison  Electric 
Illuminating  Company,  and  the  dty  pays  $87.63  per  year 
for  each  are  lamp  and  $18.33  per  year  for  each  ineandflsoent 
lamp  of  forty  candle  power. 

The  minor  residential  Htreets  and  aUeyways  are  lighted 
by  gas,  about  ten  thousand  lamps  being  in  use,  each  giving 
approximately  sixty  mean  horisontal  eandle  power.  T%» 
poets  are  owned  by  the  dty;  but  the  lamps,  globes,  sad 
other  equipment  as  weU  tw  the  underground  mains  aie 
provided  and  kept  in  repair  by  the  contracting  oompanr 
which  supplies  the  gas.  Each  lamp  consumes  abottt  la- 
teen thousand  cubic  feet  <tf  gas  per  year,  and  the  Jabar  flf 


PDBUO  UOBTINQ 

•bout  one  hundred  snd  ten  nun  it  nquirad  for  eleuinc. 
lighting,  and  extinguidiing.  The  eity,  under  He  tomwr 
contract  with  the  Boeton  CknuoBdated  Oaa  ComMny.  mv> 
$21  per  year  for  each  lamp.  F«»y.  P«y» 

In  Chicago  the  outlying  parts  of  the  dty  aie  lighted 
mainly  by  gaa  lampe,  the  annual  coet  per  lanm  for  thif  ^t* 

2r  ""^^Sf^  "  ■"~™^  ^*y  candle-power  eapadty,  SS£" 
being  about  the  same  aa  that  paid  in  Boiton.    ThetTaw 
more  than  ten  thouMuid  roeh  lampe  in  acrriee.    Ghicago 
alao  contracts  for  over  four  thousand  gaM>line  lampe  ofri. 
puted  sijrty  candle  power  at  a  cost  of  about  thirty  dollam 
foreachlampj  but  these  are  regaided  as  unduly eipensive 
for  the  amount  of  light  given,  and  ate  being  graduaUy  re- 
placed by  regular  gas  or  dectric  lights.    Most  of  the  street 
lighting,  however,  is  by  electricity.    Nearly  siztem  thou- 
«md  arc  lamps,  chiefly  of  the  flaming  type,  are  supplied 
from  a  plant  maintained  by  the  Cadeago  Saidtaiy  Dist^ 
The  city  pays  for  the  electrical  energy,  delivered  to  its 
own  sub^ations,  at  the  rate  of  aB>roamately  half  a  cent 
per  kilowatt  hour,  and  municipal  employees  look  after 
the  maintenance  of  the  lamps.    The  average  cost  per 
arc  lamp,  all  factors  included,  is  estimated  at  SM.13  per 
year.    In  addition  the  dty  oontraets  for  about  a  thousand 
arc  lamps,  supplied  by  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Com- 
pany,  for  use  diiefly  in  suburban  areas  when  the  lights 
are  set  widely  apart;  and  for  these  the  figure  is  I76per 
lamp  per  annum.    Laige  numbers  of  gas-filled  or  nitrog« 
incandescent  lamps  are  now  bdng  installed  to  replaeelro 
lamps  of  inferior  intennty.  ^^ 


Now 


OAS-LfOHTDfa  FBAMCHBm 

comes   the   matter   <tf   franchises. 


.  — .— —     w>    •'■•■I ^jUi      A    lighting  BowftteB- 

contract,  m  has  been  noticed,  is  an  altogeUier  different  ^«»»» 
thmg  from  a  lighting  franduse.    Th^  f«Lr  is  mere^  £S."^ 
>8MaboT«m>.ig8. 


tob* 


348     PRINCIPLI8  OF  MITNIOIPAL  ADMINnTR4TI0N 

«n  agreement  to  buy  a  eommodity  m  a  aerviee;  tl 
latter  conveys  to  a  company  the  right  to  un  the  eHy 
■treeta  for  poles  and  maina  in  the  work  <A  iuppfying  priTa( 
euatomers.  With  the  terma  of  the  publie-lighting  eontrac 
the  private  consumer  is  not  personally  ooneemed,  but  i 
those  of  a  lighting  franehiae  he  is  very  directly  intorested 
The  dty  authorities,  on  the  other  hand,  are,  or  ought  t 
be,  intimately  eonoemed  with  both  matters.  In  praetie 
the  contract  and  the  franehiae  are  more  or  less  dos^ 
related ;  the  company  which  holda  one  ia  also,  aa  a  ruk 
in  possesrion  of  ihe  other,  and  the  t^ms  of  one  ara  uaual^ 
discussed  with  some  xdtnace  to  tiie  terms  of  the  oUm 
The  city,  moreover,  sometimes  uses  its  franehise-grantiai 
power  as  a  means  of  securing  a  favorable  contract  f <»  pub]i< 
lighting. 

In  the  drafting  of  a  |^  franchise  many  queationa  havi 
to  be  considered,  but  there  are  three  which  deserve  special 
emphasis.  These  are  the  term  of  the  franehise,  the  piOi 
visions  which  deal  with  the  maximum  rates  that  maj 
be  charged  to  customers,  and  those  which  cover  such  ma^ 
ten  aa  the  quality  and  pressure  of  the  iUuminant  sup< 
plied.*  If  the  franchise  is  for  the  supply  <a  na^iral  gai 
to  a  city  which  is  gec^p-aphiealfy  aituated  within  readi  ol 
natural-gaa  fields,  it  should  contain  some  additimial  safo' 
guards.  When,  for  example,  the  pipe  lines  that  l»ing  the 
gas  to  the  dty  have  to  pass  through  several  other  munici- 
palities on  the  way,  there  is  a  posdbOity  that  these  inter- 
vening dties  may  interfere  with  the  supply  unless  proper 
securities  are  obtained.  Similariy,  the  fact  that  a  natural- 
gas  supply  may  at  any  moment  give  out  uneiq>ected|y 
should  always  be  borne  in  mind.  The  providoaa  as  re- 
gards equipment  and  inspeetion  will  also  be  quite  diHemit 
in  the  ease  of  a  natural-gas  franchise. 

MmMf^Prmekim  (2  voh..  New  Yoik,  1910-1011).  iiiiiiiilij  ata^  i. 
MU,  XX,  jua.  ' 


PUBUO  UOHTINO 


349 


During  the  tu^tr  and  middle  periods  of  the  nineteenth 
centuiy  it  wm  eurtonuiy  to  grant  gM  fnwohiMs  for  leU-  o»a«i. 
tively  long  termi.    Fifty-year  perioda  wero  not  unoom-  •**»*'^ 
mon.    In  coune  of  time,  however,  it  eame  to  be  veiy  gen- 
eraUy  agreed  that  this  poUey  was  detrimental  to  the  best 
interests  of  the  municipality,  since  it  proved  absolutely 
impossible  to  fix  maximum  prices  or  otherwise  to  give 
sdequate  protection  to  oonsumers  by  taxy  written  agree- 
inent  covering  so  long  a  period.    Within  the  limits  of  a 
single  generation  so  many  great  changes  take  pUoe  in 
the  methods  and  eosts  of  producing  and  distributing  gas 
that  what  may,  from  the  city's  point  of  view,  have  ap- 
peared to  be  an  excellent  bargain  at  the  time  of  giving  a 
franchise,  almost  invariably  turns  out  to  be  not  nearly 
80  good  after  fifteen  or  twenty  years  have  passed.    Con- 
sequently  the  drift  is  everywhere  in  the  direcUon  of  Umit- 
rng  franchises  to  a  term  of  twenty  years,  or  even  less ;  in- 
deed, several  stotes,  either  by  constitutional  provisions 
or  by  general  law,  have  prohibited  their  municipalities 
from  granting  aiqr  longer  term.    It  is  to  be  lemembeied, 
however,  that  a  reasonable  duration  of  franchise  rights 
is  essential  if  the  proper  investment  of  capital  is  to  be 
secured  for  this  or  for  any  other  public  utility. 

Then  there  is  the  problem  of  protecting  the  customer 
m  the  matter  of  prices  and  service.  Of  the  three  chief  Ttanprt^ 
methods  by  which  cities  have  endeavored  to  secure  this  tSS^d 
protection,  one  is  to  embody  in  the  franchise  itself  a  host 
of  regulations  as  to  maximum  prices,  the  quality  of  gas, 
the  pressure,  the  instaUation  and  repair  of  meters,  and 
80  forth.  As  a  matter  of  practice,  however,  these  regula- 
tions, besides  being  very  difficult  to  frame,  rarely  prove 
altogether  satisfaetoiy.  Either  they  are  so  rigid  as  to 
hamper  the  ressonable  freedom  of  the  companv.  or  they 
are  so  loose  as  to  afford  inadequate  protection  to  the  cus- 
jf'  ^  ***•  eompany's  methods  and  the  customer's 
needs  both  changing  from  time  to  time,  such  cast-iron 


rwata. 


260     PRINClPUn  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

inathkt  nttriotkmi  are  pretty  ran  either  to  ovtmmi 
or  to  underreoch  tke  mark.  There  are  mueh  better  wnj 
of  aeeompliBhiiMi  the  same  end. 

One  of  these  better  methods,  so  f tr  m  pricet  are  eon 
eemed;  ii  illustrated  by  the  terms  of  the  so<«alled  "sUdinf 
scale"  gas  franchise  now  held  by  the  Boeton  Consolidate* 
Gas  Company.*    This  franchise,  patterned  after  the  gM 
franchises  of  Ix>ndon,  is  granted  for  no  fixed  term ;  the  citj 
has  the  right  to  bring  it  to  an  end  at  any  time  by  purehM 
ing  the  company's  entire  plant  at  a  fair  market  value, 
The  control  of  the  price  of  gas  in  the  interest  of  the  cu» 
tomer  is  effected  by  a  system  of  relating  it  to  the  eom- 
pary's  dividend  rate.    By  the  terms  of  this  arrangement 
a  standard  price  for  gas  is  fixed  at  ninety  cents  per  thou- 
sand  eubic  feet,  and  a  standard  dividend  nte  at  7  per 
cent  on  the  par  value  of  the  con^any's  stock.    It  is  then 
stipulated  that,  if  during  any  year  the  maximum  net  priee 
of  gas  sold  to  customers  is  lesii  than  this  ninety-cent  standard 
rate,  the  company  is  alio  -i  J  to  declare  i%  additional  divi- 
dend of  1  per  cent  for  ev  > .    .>c  <  ^nts  o;  reduction  in  prise. 
Since  1906  the  price  of  ga^  h  u%  hs':^  reduced  to  eighty  cents, 
while  the  dividend  has  riutu  ta  9  per  cent.    The  arrange- 
ment further  provides  for  tht  creation  of  a  reaen/e  t'wA 
to  take  care  of  emergencies,  and  gives  to  the  statt  'mrd 
of  gas  and  electric  commissioners  the  right  to  determine 
matters  in  dispute  between  the  rity  and  the  company. 
At  the  expiration  of  ten  years  fr .  -;  the  date  at  which  tLe 
franchise  v.nt  into  operation,  ui>reover,  the  same  state 
board  has  authority  to  lower  or  raise  the  standard  price 
to  such  extent  as  may  be  justly  required  by  reason  of  im- 
proved methods  of  manufacturing  gas,  or  of  alt^ations  in  the 
price  of  labor  or  materials,  or  of  changes  in  a^y  oth«  ctmdi- 

_^  Mouaehu  tUa  AeU  and  RuoUu,  1906,  oh.  422.   a  d  aim  E.  N.  Wi^ 
tefftCTi «  paper  on  "  The  SHdit^-serie  Oas  ftaadiBo."  io  » ^-T!^ 

?K  moSrS  W^aL"  ^''  **»'*'^  "^  J/«nfct>l  VUUMm  (N«ir 


PUBLIC  UOHTmo 


361 


tioM  affecting  the  gnieiml  eoti  of  prodiwtioii  or  dktribiitioii. 
Thuf  far  both  partiea  Mem  to  be  w«U  latiifled  with  their 
experionee  under  the  plan. 

Another  method  ie  that  ilhiftrmted  by  the  gu  franohiie 
of  St.  Paul,  granted  for  a  twenty-fiv»year  period  from  1907. 
The  maximum  net  price  is  fixed  in  the  franehiae  at  one 
dollar  per  thousand  cubic  feet,  but  proviaion  ia  made  that 
the  city  council  may  at  any  time  within  the  life  of  the 
contract  reduce  thia  maximum  price,  ita  action  t>  be  rab- 
ject  to  review  by  the  eourta.    In  raeh  adjudication  the 
courts  are  empowered  "to  decide,  fix  and  determine  what 
maximum  pricea  are  fair  and  reaaonable." »    This  poUey 
of  turning  such  matter*  over  to  the  eourta  for  determina- 
tion is,  however,  one  of  veiy  doubtful  wisdom,  for  a  fair 
dociwon  as  to  reaaonablenew  of  pricea  muat  be  baaed  upon 
an  mvestigation  of  fixed  and  current  coata  to  the  enfran- 
chwed  company,  and  the  courts  have  no  regubr  machineiy 
at  hand  for  making  such  investigation.    Thijy  must  be 
guided  by  the  findings  of  experts,  and  in  their  selection 
of  such  men  they  are  Uable  to  pressure  from  both  sides. 
If  judicial  standards  are  to  be  maintained,  it  ia  desirable 
to  keep  all  such  patronage  out  of  the  hands  of  judges. 

Neither  of  the  two  foregoing  plans  makes  any  adequate 
provision  for  insuring  the  quaKty  of  service ;  they  both  cover 
the  problem  of  prices  only.  QuaKty  of  service  is  some- 
thmg  that  must,  if  the  matter  is  to  be  handled  satiafao- 
torily,  be  controUed  by  some  pubUc  authority,  and  this 
authority  is  ordinarily  a  state  commission,  thou^  municipal 
commissions  are  not  unknown.  In  actual  practice,  too, 
the  regulation  of  price  is  almost  eveiywhere  coming  to  be 
left  in  the  same  hands.  Regulating  commissions,  known 
MpubUc-utility  boards  or  by  some  analogous  name,  have 
been  established  in  forty-five  sUtes  of  the  Union.*    In 

1  tt.?'*f*»u^  <*•  c<i»  ,^  &.  Paid,  1907.  Pit.  st&sm. 

A  iHt  ot  tfaeae  states,  with  raiknu  dftU  niMtbm  ta  A»  .mhm..^ 


TbsM. 


ofpriew 

UdMtTJ 

bgraH 
bnud. 


TlilBtltlt 

ofeflldMit 

pafaUenigu 

faUfon. 


1.  Fttaon- 

Bdoftbe 

eonuniMion. 


252     PRINCIPLES  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

more  than  half  of  these  states  the  memben  of  the  com. 
mwsion  are  appointed  by  the  governor,  in  most  of  the 
others  th^  are  elected  by  the  people;  but,  on  the  whole 
experience  seems  to  show  that  the  appointive  plan  brinn 
better  results.  These  commissions  each  have  from  three  to 
seven  members,  who  receive  substantial  salaries  and  de- 
vote all  or  most  of  their  time  to  the  work. 

The  powers  and  functions  of  such  commissions,  as  n- 
spects  prices  and  quaUty  of  service  given  by  lighting  com- 
pames  both  to  the  city  and  to  private  customers,  are  of 
great  and  growing  extent.    In  many  cases  they  cover 
such  matters  as  capitaUsation,  aUowances  for  deprecia- 
tion, and  methods  of  accounting  as  weU;  and  in  aU  cases 
they  provide  a  flexible  mechanism  which  may  fairly  be 
looked  upon  as  serving  the  best  interests  of  both  the  com- 
pany and  the  community,  provided  two  essentiab  are 
present.*    These  essentials  deserve  special  emphasis,  for 
they  are  of  transcendent  importance.    In  the  first  place, 
the  commission  must  be  so  constituted  as  to  be  able  to 
approach  its  functions  in  a  fair  and  impartial  spirit.    TTiis 
means  that  the  members  must  be  men  of  unquestioned 
mtegnty,  mdependence,  and  breadth  of  view.    The  proper 
function  of  a  regulating  commission  is  not  to  take  the  part 
of  the  community  or  the  customer  agaimh  the  public- 
service  corporation;  it  is  simply  to  serve  as  a  fair  arbiter 
between  the  conflicting  interests  of  the  two.    Its  position 
18  quasi-judicial.    Yet  no  constitutional  or  legal  securities 
can  ever  avafl  to  prevent  the  appointment  or  the  election 
of  corrupt  or  mcompetent  commissioners.    That  end  pubUe 
opmion  alone  can  accomplish;   and  in  some  states,  un- 

AmtrieoHAeademif  ef  PdiUad  €md  SmM  Seitnet,  M.  8-18  Oimir  1014) 
On  monieipia  oommiMioiu.  Me  the  artieie  oTNSSrtrit  iSta^L  R^ 
tatfon  of  Publio  VmUrn"  in  the  N^^maMMZ  ££?»  SS 

niJFvJ^^^T^°^°*  *''*"  oommiMipii.  may  be  ittidied  ia  Oe  NalioHl 
Civic  Fede»tion't  CommiuUm  tUrOatUm  ^  PnWfc  t^flto  •  «  Cm^ 


PUBUC  UOHTINO 


253 


happily,  public  opinion  seems  to  be  a  sfonder  reed  for 
either  municipal  or  private  intwesto  to  lean  their  trust  upon. 
In  the  second  place,  a  regulating  eonunission,  if  it  is  to 
bring  us  a  permanent  solution  of  our  publicHMrvice  prob- 
lems, must  have  an  abundance  of  technical  skill  at  its 
command.    Nearly  every  general  question  that  comes  before 
the  commission  involves  intricate  matters;  a  fair  settlement  2? 
usuaUy  requires  a  prolonged  and  skilful  inquiiy  into  many 
detaib  of  finance  and  operation.    SkiU,  moreover,  is  an 
expensive  commodity,  and  skilful  regulation  is  therefore 
sure  to  cost  a  great  deal  of  money.    Reguktion,  skilled  aad 
otherwise,  is  ah«ady  costing  millions,  and  the  end  is  not 
yet.    If  the  work  of  supervision  is  not  well  performed, 
therefore,  if  it  results  in  hampering  the  utilities  in  that 
reasonable  measure  of  freedom  which  is  essential  to  piog- 
reas,  the  burden  on  the  public,  which  in  the  long  run 
has  the  bills  to  pay,  wiU  be  aU  the  greater.    In  the  ultimate 
analysis,  indeed,  inefficient   regulation  is  likely  to  prove 
more  costly  than  no  regulation  at  all.    One  of  the  first 
lessons  which  the  people  at  large  must  learn  is  that  efficient 
control  of  lighting  and  other  public  utilities  is  an  extremely 
expensive  imdertaking. 

The  question  whether  the  dty  shaU  hw  tlie  ri^t  to 
take  over  the  gas  company's  plant,  either  at  the  expiration 
of  the  franchise  term  or  at  an  even  earlier  date,  is  also  one 
that  ought  to  be  faced  and  answered  in  advance.  The 
existence  of  a  municipal  ri|^t  to  do  this  is  one  of  the  best 
securities  for  good  bduivk>r  that  can  be  placed  upon  any 
Mifranchised  company.  Whether  actual  munioipalisation 
is  prudent  or  not,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  power  to 
municipalise  a  gas  plant,  should  the  occasion  arise,  is  a 
useful  advantage  to  hold  in  reserve.  So,  too,  with  tiie 
determination  of  the  share  which  the  munidpality  should 
have  from  the  company's  actual  annual  earnings.*    It 


a 

•nriortta 


iHrloteka 


Sinilar  to 
ifran- 


264     PRINCIPLES  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

is  a  fair  question  whether  this  share  should  go  to  the  d< 
sens  as  a  whole,  through  payments  into  the  munidp 
treasury,  or  whether  it  should  go  back  to  the  company 
Gustomers  through  a  reduction  in  their  lighting  bills.  Tk 
former  is  the  pkn  pursued  in  St.  Paul;  the  sliding-sca] 
system  in  Boston  is  based  on  the  latter  doctrir  .. 

KLECTRIO-UOHTINO  FHANCHI818 

What  has  been  said  of  gas  franchises  also  applies  in  th 

main  to  the  conditions  under  which  pubUc  privil^ee  shouli 

be  given  to  electric  light  and  power  companies.    TLme  an 

to  be  sure,  a  few  special  features  affecting  the  productia 

and  distribution  of  electricity  that  do  nat  apply  to  gii 

but  they  are  not  of  great  importMMe.^    Electric-Ughtini 

franchises  have  bera  granted  by  the  hundrads  throt^a« 

the  cities  of  the  United  States,  sometimes  several  <rf  ^m 

being  given  in  the  same  municipality.    A  geaeratioa  « 

two  ago  it  was  a  popular  notion  that  the  public  oodd  bi 

best  protected  by  competition,  anu  hence  that  if  two  oi 

more  companies  had  privikfes  in  Uie  sanu  area  tM 

rivahy  would  keep  prices  dMm.    EiqpmeMe  has  denoih 

strated  very  clearly,  however,  that  hopes  <rf  this  sort  an 

seldom    realised.    Eleottic    lighting    w    a    monopoly  if 

its  veiy   nature,   and,   as  has  been  demonstrated  "**«f 

times,  there  can  be  no  effective,  permanent  competiti<n 

between  natural  monopoUes  operating  in  the  same  aiea. 

An  electric-lighting  franchise  should  therefore  be  exclusive; 

that  is  to  say,  it  should  give  a  company  the  sole  right 

to  distribute  electricity  through  the  public  streets  of  the 

whole  city,  or  the  sole  ri^t  in  some  specified  part  of  the 

city.    This  exclusive  privilege,  however,  should  alwi^  be 

heW  subject  to  proper  restrictions  set  forth  in  the  fraa- 

chise. 

i.  M?-142.^"™*"'  ^•"^'^  FrmnekiM,  (2  vob..  New  York.  IWO-lWl), 


PUBUO  UOHTmo 


8SS 


The  stipulations  contained  in  electric-lighting  franchises 
display  the  greatest  variation  in  different  dtiee.    In  some  rkdimip. 
cases  the  franchise  is  granted  for  a  relatively  short  term   '''•**°* 
with  strict  conditions,  as  in  St.  Paul ;  in  otheiB  for  a  fifty- 
year  term  with  conditions  not  so  rigid,  as  in  CUcago ;  and  in 
others,  again,  the  franchises  are  perpetual,  with  practicaUy 
no  fixed  conditions  at  aU,  as  in  New  York  and  Borton' 
The  BtipuUtions  embodied  in  the  ordinary  franchise  relate 
to  maamum  prices  for  both  domestic  and  commercial  lightr 
ing,  for  quality  of  service,  location  of  poles  and  conduits 
I»yments  into  the  pubUc  treasury,  and  so  forth.    Am  is 
the  case  of  gas  fnaehises,  thew  matten  are  so  m^eram 
and  compUcated,  and  are  so  continually  affected  by  new 
inventions,  that  to  deal  securely  mih  them  in  the  ciauMa 
of  a  franchise  is  altogether  out  of  the  quertion.    A  greater 
amount  of  flexibiUty  is  needed  than  can  ever  be  obtained 
m  that  way. 

What  are  the  essentials  of  a  aattsfaetoiy  electric-lighting 
franchtte  fron  ti»  viewpoints  of  both  city  and  company? 
In  the  first  place,  there  should  be  a  term  of  reasonable 
length,  — say,   twenty   to  thirty  years;    or,   if  granted 
without  a  stated  length  «rf  term,  the  fnaAkB  Aould  be 
revocable  at  any  time  for  proper  cause  by  ^eiee  of  the 
courts  or  on  the  order  of  some  iad<^>endeBt  sUte  authority, 
m  tiie  second  place,  it  slwuld  embody  a  schedule  of  mmi- 
mum  prices  for  electricity  (making  due  aUowance  for  different 
ratM  to  Urge  anj  small  distomeiB  wherever  the  propriety  «f 
such  differences  can  be  established),  iMi  shouki  provide  for  a 
revHHon  of  tiiis  sehedule  at  intervab  ef  every  fow  wmn,  m 
better  still,  at  any  time  o.  «ie  request  of  the  maAriJi 
authontiee.    This  revidon  should  be  intrusted  to^aiX 
pendent  state  wthority,  such  as  the  pub&>«grviM  board  or 
^tm  and  electric  oommiaMon,  or  whatever  ^  Ba«e  may 
be;  and  the  readjustment  of  frieee  is  ^  sel^dule  shouM 

i  ll^zTi!^""^  ^--WjNrf  Franckism  (8  vol*.  N^  f«fc.  ^m-mW, 


fiMlllltIA 


256     PRINCIPLBS  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


be  based  upon  the  ue«tained  cost  of  produeing  and  di 
tributing  electricity.*  In  the  third  place,  the  franchii 
should  contain,  in  general  and  rather  elastic  terms,  varioi 
clauses  relating  to  quality  of  service,  repairs,  ext«isiooi 
publicity  of  accounts,  capitalisation,  and  so  on.  It  woul 
be  futile  to  try  to  cover  all  these  things  in  precise  detai 
The  general  principles  being  stated  in  the  franchise,  i 
should  be  stipulated  that  tte  regulating  authority  shai 
have  the  ri|^t  to  determine,  after  a  proper  hearing,  an; 
controveray  regarding  them.  This  is  the  only  way  b; 
which  a  municipality  can  be  assured  of  adequate  protec 
tion  and  yet  the  company  be  left  with  that  decree  of  operal 
ing  flexibility  which  is  essentiid  to  progress.  In  the  fourtl 
place,  the  franchise  should  require  the  company,  in  letun 
for  its  privileges,  to  pay  annually  to  the  municipality  i 
stated  percentage  of  its  gross  earnings.  What  this  pa 
cMitage  diould  be  is  a  matter  for  local  calculatitm  aw 
adjustment.  Finally,  there  should  be  provision  that  tin 
municipality  may  at  any  time  purchase  and  take  over,  « 
a  fair  market  value,  the  entire  plant  and  equipmoit  o 
the  comptny  as  a  preliminary  to  a  policy  cl  muni^^ 
electric  lighting;  and  it  should  be  expressly  stipulatec 
that,  in  such  event,  nothing  shall  be  paid  to  the  eompttoi 
for  unexpired  franchise  rights.  It  is  advisable,  moreover 
that  the  basis  for  determining  a  fair  market  vafaN— 
whether  it  be  on  a  scale  of  earning  power,  or  by  sMimatiBI 
replacement  costs,  or  by  calculating  investment  less  d» 
preciation,  or  by  some  o^w  suitable  method— -be  ad 
forth  in  the  franchise.'    Most  <rf  the  difficultiee  whicfa 


*D»te 


th* 


_w^  ■.......■.,».,,  ....  y.KiM  I  tor  «iMtrieity  in  vwy  pirt  of  ttl 

WMBtor  mar  Im  foaad  ia  tbe  jmbMnrtiaa  kaevo  m  RaU  Bmmtk,  bmi 
bytlwNatiaMlllaotrieU^tAwMiMiM;  b«(  te  d^a  Imm  bMa  SMik 
VNkMy  with  JaUlM.  thai  tte  flmw  Omn  fivw  m  apt  towMSi 
■MttOT  in  •  Ugkt  too  iMonM*  to  tlw  Hshtiv  oonpwiM.  Tbt  SM 
£MIMm  M«fM<M.  imbiidMd  ■!  Pyiiidriiilii*.  wiU  ao  doabt  iBMri^ 
priM  (MMhtiM  from  tho  othw  itMi^Mat. 

*Th8  quMtkm  of  pvUkHitility  viUiMtioii  b  too  oompii<»t«d  to  l»di>> 
hws.    RMdan  miut  be  nfanwd  to  tlw  Utentun  of  tho  nlijwt, 


PUBUC  UGHTINO 


2&1 


usually  crop  <mt  when  an  effort  is  made  to  Mmimut  the 
value  of  a  public  utility  would  disappear  if  a  basis  of  cal- 
culation, previous  apeed  upon,  were  preaeribed  in  the 
franchise  itself. 

There  are  obvious  objections  to  an  unlimited  frandllise; 
there  are  also  objections,  althouf^  periiaps  not  so  obvifHis,  ^mumw 
to  the  granting  of  franchises  for  limited  periods.  In  the  pfaaof 
latter  case  a  company  will  usually  let  its  i^ant  run  dovm  "*y^„ 
and  its  service  deteriorate  for  some  years  before  the  term 
expires,  unless  it  has  reasonable  hope  of  getting  a  renewal. 
An  excellent  working  arrangement  is  that  under  whksh  the 
various  electric-lighting  companies  in  Massachusetts  cities 
hold  their  privil^es.  These  franchises  are  gnmted  by  the 
municipalities  for  no  assigned  term  of  years,  nor  is  it  the 
custom  to  insert  in  them  any  precise  regulations  as  to 
capitalisation,  extenaons,  maximum  {mees,  or  qwility  of 
service.  Under  the  genoal  statutes  the  compMties  are 
merely  required  to  give  satisfactory  serviM  at  reasonable 
rates,  the  state  board  of  gas  and  electric  commisBonera 
being  vested  with  full  power  to  decide  whether  sorice  is 
satisfactory  or  rates  reasonable  in  case  of  dispute  betwe«i 
company  and  customers.  This  plan  has  the  great  mmit  of 
simplicity  and  on  the  whole  it  has  worked  exceedingly  well. 


IBK  POLKT  OP  MUNICIPAL  OWNBBBHIP 

The  policy  of  municipal  ownership  and  operation  of  lift- 
ing plants,  BO  extensively  applied  in  the  cities  of  Great  ^j^^JE^ 
Britain  and  continental  Europe,  has  had  much  leas  vogue  in  of  «m 
this  country.  In  the  United  Kingdom  twenty-one  of  the 
^ty  largest  boroughs  have  municipal  own««hip  and  wpent- 
tion  of  gas  supply,  and  more  than  twice  that  number  ha^ 
municipalised  electricity.     In  Qomany,  thirty-five  of  the 

which  ineludea  mwh  \toAa  m  R.  H.  WUtUn's  FoiiMMm  ^  PtMie  Smwie* 
CorpnratioHM  (New  York.  1912) ;  TTuunond  V.  Hiqrw'a  PiMt  UtOMm; 
(*n>  Cott  Kew  an4  0«prwiaMm  (IVmr  York.  1013);  and  Hwny  noy't 
Valuation  «/  PtMie  UtOUp  ProfvtiM  (N«w  ToriE,  1912). 


Tliec_ 
rienoeof 
FhiUdel- 


258     PRINCIPLES  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINIBTIUTION 

fiftj'  IsrgMt  cities  have  municipal  gas  plants,  and  abc 
forty  have  electrio-lighting  and  power  plants  owned  a 
operated  by  the  municipalities.  Municipaliiation  of  | 
has  not  been  nearly  so  popular  in  America.  At  prm 
there  are  some  tlarty  municipal  gas  plauts  in  the  Unit 
States,  but  most  of  them  are  in  small  communities ;  on 
four  supply  more  than  a  hundred  million  feet  of  gas  p 
annum.*  On  the  other  hand,  there  are  about  fourteen  hu 
dsed  private  gas  plants  serving  municipalities,  large  ai 


The  (mly  experience  we  have  had  with  municipal  owne 

ship  and  operation  of  the  gas  supply  on  a  really  Urge  sea 

has  been  in  Philadelphia.    The  plant  in  that  city  wi 

started  wrth  private  capital  in  1835 ;  in  1841  the  city  becan 

tl»  sde  owner,  bat  the  management  was  intrusted  to 

self-perpetuating  body  of  trustees  and  no  part  of  the  profil 

went  into  the  city  treasury.    In  1887,  however,  the  Burea 

of  Gas  vns  oi^^zed,  the  trustees  were  ousted,  and  the  plan 

was  pi^  in  charge  of  an  official  appointed  by  the  may«M 

For  the  next  t«i  years  the  city  owned  and  directly  operata 

its  gas  facilities,  but  in  1897  it  decided  to  discontinue  th 

policy  ci  municipal  operation ;  accordingly,  though  retain 

i^  the  OTToership  of  the  plant,  it  granted  a  lease  for  thirt] 

years  to  the  United  Gas  Improvement  Company,  whicl 

has  managed  it  ever  since.    The  change  was  of  courx 

heralded  throughout  the  country  as  a  proof  that  municipal 

»tion  of  the  gas  facilities  on  a  IwFge  scale  had  failed ;  bul 

it  wu  contended  in  many  wdl-informed  quartera  that  thi 

most  serious  defects  which  had  been  found  to  be  connected 

with  n«Miicipal  operation  were  trao«ibIe  partly  to  evih 

inherited  from  the  e^ier  regime  and  partly  to  the  inte^ 

>Th8  ivKMt  of  thnn  aro  at  Rkshnumd.  Va.,  I^mAI^,  W.  Vi.,  Dulu* 
Minn.,  and  Holyoke,  Maw.  The  PhOadolpy*  rm  plant  is  ownad  fcy  tba 
city,  but  18  operated  und«-  I«uw  by  a  oompany.    About  ekhty  MBaB 

The  flflruras  and  details  may  be  foand  in  Bwim's  Mnetorv  aT 
Oa»  Companies,  published  aniraally. 


PQBLIO  UOHTINO 


260 


fcrcnce  of  the  city  eounoil  with  the  offieiAls  who  were 
administering  the  plant.  There  are  undoubtedly  two  sides 
to  the  question.' 

In  the  matter  of  municipal  ownership  and  operation  of 
electric  plants,  on  the  other  hand,  the  experience  of  Ameri-  XmMiMi 
can  cities  has  been  much  more  extenave.    There  are  more  TSSi 
than  SStem  hundred  electrio-lighting  plants  now  owned  ^**^ 
and  managed  by  municipalities,*  most  of  them,  however,  in 
small  cities  and  towns;  the  number  of  private  plants  is 
more  than  twice  as  great.    Although  it  is  dear  that  the 
policy  of  municipal  management  has  thus  made,  and  is  still 
making,  substantial  progress  in  this  field,'  the  question 
whether  it  has  on  the  whole  proved  a  successful  policy  is 
one  that  cannot  be  fairly  answered  in  a  single  paragraph. 
Some  years  ago  this  matter  was  most  carefully  investigated, 
but  with  veiy  indecisive  results,  except  to  show  that  the 
question  in  large  and  complicated.* 

'7*^  *J»  <»t*«U^  "e  the  raporu  of  WaitoB  J.  Cbrit  sod  L.  S.  Rom 
m  llu,  NMlonirf  avio  P«d«»JiM,'.  Ihpm  m  Municipal  an^J^O^Z 

S^'^rh  S.SS.S;t:'&T  """^ '""''  '*•  "•  ^-  ••  "*^ 

"The  met  important  an  DMrait  sad  CUmco.    A  foU  U>t.  with 
^  of  output  and  opemtioM.  auiy  be  foood  Id  MeOnw'i  Ccntrd 

u»fd  Wormation  reUtiaf  to  tiMh  »aM«t  aTttTdwrioKBt  dT tb. 
i-lectno^htinff  iadurtry,  tho  pdmaiy  peww  and  ■mm^aTwaiMiiaat. 
the  anandal  .Uti.tiot.  and  thivZ^iiZiSl^SS7i^^uS:i 
.ng .»  Am«i«an  aiiiddpalitiM haa hma fanwifat  t^L  in^SpaSSS^ 

Stotea  Bureau  of  the  Cenma  (WaaUafton.  1915)  w"»i~ 

•  T%e  f oUowiaC  fliUM  (oompOed  ftaaa  the  Oi^ 
pp.  18-22   riiow  the  rdative  iamaie  of  muaioipal  and  priv^^riaetaie 
pUntg  during  the  dcoade  ig(»-10i2 :  —         """»»•  •«»  l»»^^««  memo 


m» 

IMT 

ma 

Monioipal  irtuita    .     . 
Private  planta 

am 

%ao6 

3.463 

1,M2 
3.6B0 

•  .Vatkmal  CIvie  FedewtioB'a 
W5-8W,  and  vrf.  ii. 


pt.ii.vBLi. 


CHAFTEB  Vn 


SulirpoiiM 


POUCB  ADimaRIATlOir 

Tn  pretervation  of  life,  liberty,  and  property  it  the  fii 
duty  of  all  oiganised  eommuiutiee,  and  has  bem  so  leeo 
niied  from  eariieat  times.  Among  primitive  peoples,  hoi 
ever,  it  was  usually  the  custom  to  put  the  reqwnsibility  t 
keeping  the  peaoe  upon  the  whole  community,  and  not  up< 
any  group  of  professional  peaconakers  such  as  we  call  tl 
police  of  the  modem  municipality.  In  Saxon  En^ 
there  y,u,  for  example,  the  "frankpledge"  system.*  Und 
this  arrangement  "  all  mm  in  every  region  of  the  who 
reahn"  were  (impelled  to  band  themselves  U^sBthet 
tithingB,  or  groups  of  ten ;  and  every  ten  tithings-  in  tan 
were  grouped  to  form  a  hundred.  Hie  group  was  r 
sponsible  as  a  whole  for  any  offmce  committed  by  m 
of  its  members.  If  any  member  of  a  tithing  was  guilty  ( 
a  breach  of  the  peace,  his  nine  fellow-sureties  w« 
allowed  one  month  in  which  to  pursue  and  bring  him  1 
court.  li  they  failed,  they  were  liable  for  the  whde  fia 
or  werffQd,  imposed ;  if  the  nine  could  not  pay  it,  the  men 
hen  of  the  hundred  were  liable.  In  those  days  nearly  a 
offences  were  atonable  by  fine  {bot  or  wergUd).  The  An^ 
Saxon  conception  of  police  administration  was  thus  bot 
simple  and  intelligible:  every  freeman  was  a  pdiorauu) 
every  one  was  his  brother's  keeper.  Every  one  had  a  n 
sponsible  surety  for  his  good  behavior,  and  was  in  tur 

Bm  W.  A.  MoBk,  fl 


>  A  whole  TohuM  htm  \t$m  wiittoa  aboet !». 
PrmkfU§$  antkm  (New  Toric  1010). 

an 


pouoi  AOMDnvnunoM 


SU 


The 


himself  a  surety  for  the  behavior  of  hie  neifhbon. 
m\a  who  could  not  find  a  nirety  was  an  outlaw.' 

The  frankpledge  qntem  did  not  kng  survive  the  Norman 
conquest,  for  with  the  otnninf  <tf  tiie  oonqueron  the  eate- 
goiy  of  offences  that  oould  not  be  atoned  for  by  the  pay- 
ment of  a  fine  rapidly  inereased.    Furthermore,  the  devel- 
opment of  the  sheriTs  office,  with  its  eentiaUsation  of 
rcsponMbiUty  for  preserving  Uw  and  oider,  also  hel^  to 
break  down  the  andent  system  of  eodperative  peaoe-keep- 
ing.    The  potice  function  now  passed  largely  to  the  sheriTs 
deputies  or  constables,  while  offenees  against  public  order 
were  rigidly  punished  in  the  royal  courts.    A  landmark  in 
the  history  of  police  administration  was  set  by  the  Stotute 
of  Winchester  (1285),"  for  this  enactment  gave  England  a 
police  qrstem  which  remained  without  serious  alteration 
for  more  than  five  hundred  years.    It  did  not  apply  to 
London,  but  in  the  <«me  year  another  act  with  somewhat 
■imilar  provit V Dg  « ^,  enacted  for  the  metropolis.* 

A  8ummai>  o,  i!  ?•  London  sUtute  will  give  some  idea  of 
Uie  general  arrangements  made  for  urban  police  protection 
during  the  Middle  Agee.  Under  its  provirions  the  dty  was 
divided  into  twenty-four  wards,  and  in  each  ward  six  watch- 
men were  appointed  by  the  alderman.  Theee  watchmen 
were  householders  who  took  their  duty  by  turns;  they 
were  to  look  out  for  incipient  fires  as  weU  as  for  breaches  of 
the  peace.  All  male  inhabitants  were  required  to  serve 
without  pay,  one  night  at  a  time,  when  called  upon  by  the 
aWerman  or  by  the  sheriTs  agent,  the  constable;  if  any 
^c  did  not  wish  to  take  his  turn  he  might  hire  a  substitute. 
So  long  as  the  dty  was  smaU  in  area  and  population  this 
plan  gave  moderate  satisfaction,  but  as  it  grew  to  be  an 
unportant  community  the  police  work  of  the  waid  watch- 

» S.^^'  l^  4?*f*^  '^  '*•'*«  *»  Em0lmd  (LofMloa.  1901),  «k  I. 


TWl 


poliMad- 


.■>rt.ft).to  fflgfM«M4/lito 


aea     PRINCIPUM  op  municipal  AOMINianUTION 


men  boc*m«  intolenbly  poor.  Honctt  eitiioia  dudiked  Uu 
tuk,  and  a  cImi  of  profeMoiud  lubttitutM  developed  who 
would  do  any  man's  duty  for  aixpenee  a  ni^t.  They  wen, 
for  the  moet  part,  shiftleM  fellowa  who  q;>mt  many  houn 
of  the  ni|^t  in  the  ale>houMa  and  very  few  in  patrdliflf 
the  etreets.  In  due  eoune  the  city  treasury  aaeumed  the 
burden  of  paying  them,  but  no  pains  wore  taken  to  fet 
^cient  men.  Furthermore,  from  motives  of  humanity, 
old  men  were  kept  in  tho  servioe  long  after  they  had  eeased 
to  be  active.  These  "Charleys,"  as  they  were  called,  be* 
came  the  butt  of  popular  witticisms  aimed  partieula^ 
at  tiieir  reputed  capacity  for  sleep  even  while  (m  duty. 
"Wh«i  all  else  failed  in  cases  of  insomnia,"  writes  one 
facetious  contemporary,  "the  physicians  dressed  the  patient 
in  a  watchman's  coat,  put  a  lantern  in  his  hand,  and  in  ten 
minutes  he  was  fast  asleep."  The  authorities  attempted  to 
keep  the  watchmm  on  Uie  move  by  requiring  them  to  caU  out 
the  hours  as  they  wmt  along.  Housdiolders  could  thea 
tell  whether  their  watchman  was  making  his  rounds  or 
not;  but  so  could  the  malef aotors  —  and  keq>  out  <rf  the 
way.  Meantime  in  the  countries  of  wmtinental  Europe 
the  work  of  policii^;  the  dties  had  oo.ne  to  be  assumed  by 
foroes  organised  on  a  seminnilitazy  model  but  wmtrolkd 
by  the  dvil  authorities;  even  in  the  earfy  part  of  the 
eighteenth  eoituiy  Paris  had  an  armed  and  disciplined 
90ndaniier»e  of  several  hundred  mm.*  In  En^and,  hofwever, 
the  popular  prejudice  against  intrusting  civil  functions  to 
men  who  bore  even  the  semblance  of  military  authority 
was  so  great  that  the  arrangement  of  constables  and  watdh 
men  continued  until  long  after  that  time. 
It  is  easy  to  see  how  a  system  of  this  sort  should  have 
iMdiqiMey  completely  broken  down  during  the  period  of  rapid  urban 
growth  which  marked  the  incoming  of  the  ninetemtii  cen- 
tury.   In  London  particularly  the  situation  came  to  be 


Oatt* 


oltiw 


•A.  Rvyaiid  h.¥iiim,ai$Mn4ue0rru 
UM). 


4$»  fflnNMM  *  la  9«te  (FMhi 


pouoi  Ax»if  DnenunoN  ni 

unendurable.  Men  the  popubtioa  wm  growing  with  gnat 
rapidity  outride  the  bound*  of  the  old  "  dty, "  and  in  then 
outer  poriahee  the  eonetablee  or  watehmen  h«d  »  my  n. 
atricted  amount  of  authority.  Crime*  wwe  committed 
openly  and  in  great  numben;  the  street*  of  the  metrop- 
oliii  became  so  vamie  that  no  honest  man  dared  venture 
abroad  after  nightfall.  Not  that  puniahment*  were  laok- 
ing  in  severity  when  offoiden  were  oauf^t,  for  at  the 
beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  there  wete  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty  distinct  capital  ofToices.  A  man  mi^t 
be  executed  for  larceny  if  the  value  of  the  stolen  article 
exceeded  one  shilling!  As  many  as  forty  persons  woe 
sometimes  hanged  in  Londcm  on  a  single  day,^  and  the 
situation  was  steadily  growing  worse.  Yet  all  this  severity 
aeemed  to  be  of  little  or  no  avaiL 


TBI  BnonfiMcn  or  MoosKf  pooob 

It  was  at  this  stage  that  two  pioneers  in  the  field  of  poKoe 
administration  and  criminal  justice  pointed  out  the  way  to  ootunkaM 
improvement.    One  of  them  was  Dr.  Colquhoun,  who  in  "^ 
1796  published  his  famous  treatise  on  London's  police  sys- 
tem, in  which  he  tried  to  impress  upon  the  public  mind  the 
urgent  desirability  of  doing  away  with  the  old  system  of 
watchmen  and  constables  and  replacing  it  with  a  body  of 
"intelligent  and  indefatigable"  policemen  trained  to  their 
service  and  controlled  by  a  single,  centralized  agency.* 
The  other  reformer  was  Jeremy  Bentham,  who  first  made 
clear  to  the  minds  of  Englishmen  that  certaitUy  rather  than 
»ermty  of  punishment  is  the  only  sure  deterrent  of  crime.* 
"The  more  the  certainty  of  puniriunent  can  be  augmented/' 
he  wrote,  "the  more  it  may  be  diminished  in  amount."    If 
the  police  system  could  be  so  improved  as  to  make  criminals 

1  P^tlL^n  h^'x.^  "^^J^^i*^  •*»  '"«««kl  (London.  IflOl),  p.  aiM. 
^^^  CokijUioun.  On  th,  PMm  ^  tha  Mtr»peHt  (London.  ITBB). 
Bentlmm  ■  ohkif  worb  on  thii  nbjeet  wm  Tk$  RatiunaU  €f  Puniik- 
menl  ud  The  Ratioitak  ef  Rmaari.  ^^ 


MHCIOCOPr  HSOUinON  TKT  CHMT 

(ANSI  and  ISO  TEST  CHART  No.  3) 


L& 

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■  2.5 

l» 

■^* 

Ut 

|U 

■  2.2 

|3j« 

■■■1 

lit 
111 

1^ 

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mti^v^ 


A 


/APPLIED  IM«^GE    Inc 

16S3  East  Main  SIrMt 

Rochnttr.  Ntw  York        U609       USA 

(716)  482  -  0300  -  Phot). 

(71C)  288  -  5989  -  Fn 


'^ 


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■iilBfiipMHIiiPpiilill 


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Pariiamen- 

taryinvorti- 

gationa. 


I'M'!  Act 
of  1829. 


264     PRINCIPLES  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

reasonably  fearful  of  detection  and  arrest,  he  ai^ed,  the 
would  be  no  need  of  such  brutal  severity  in  the  punisi 
ment  of  ordinary  crimes. 

It  took  time,  however,  for  this  idea  to  find  its  way  to 
place  in  the  statutes  of  the  realm.  Several  parliaraentai 
committees  took  up  the  question  of  making  London  8af< 
a  half-dozen  of  them  went  into  the  matter  extensively  durii 
the  first  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century.  They  invest 
gated,  gathered  evidence,  made  reports,  and  offered  recon 
mendations;  but,  as  none  of  them  went  to  the  root  < 
the  difficulty,  their  various  suggestions  secured  nothin 
but  some  sUght  improvements.  It  was  not  until  182J 
when  Sir  Robert  Peel  took  the  matter  in  hand,  that  a  r« 
solution  of  the  question  appeared  in  sight. 

The  parliamentary  commission  of  1828  made  its  investi 
g^tions  thoroughly  and  without  delay.  Its  recommendi 
tions  were  promptly  sent  to  parliament,  and  with  equi 
promptness  they  were  carried  into  operation  even  thou^ 
they  involved  most  radical  changes. 

This  famous  metropolitan  police  statute  of  1829,  whid 
has  since  borne  Peel's  name,  contains  a  great  many  provi 
sions,  the  general  purport  of  which  can  perhaps  be  bes 
gathered  from  a  glance  at  the  changes  that  were  soon  unde 
way.  A  metropolitan  police  district  comprising  th( 
metropoUs  in  its  wider  sense  was  established  (but  ex 
eluding  the  old  "city"  of  London),  the  area  being  appor 
tioned  into  divisions  and  each  division  divided  again  int( 
patrob.*  In  this  district  the  old  system  of  watch  anc 
ward  was  swept  away,  and  in  its  place  was  set  up  a  bodj 
of  professional  police,  uniformed,  drilled,  and  accoutred  in 
modem  style.  This  force  was  put  directly  under  the  con- 
trol of  the  national  government,  but  it  was  not  to  be  in  an^ 
way  a  part  of  the  miUtary  establishment.    At  the  time  d 

rJ  "^?-^<'*  '"  Improving  the  PoKoe  in  and  near  the  MetropoUa,"  Ifl 
Oeorge  IV,  oh.  44.     A  geoeral  reorgaoiiatioa  of  the  "  dty  "  poUoe  tool 

place  about  the  same  time. 


POUCE  ADMINISTRATION 


265 


its  organization  the  new  corps  numbered  about  three  thou- 
sand men  of  all  ranks,  and  the  pay  of  ordinaiy  constables 
or  policemen  was  set  at  nineteen  shillings  per  week.  This 
was  the  first  sjrstem  of  civil  police  to  be  organized  on  modem 
lines  in  any  city  of  the  world. 

The  new  police  organisation  at  once  encountered  the 
fiercest  sort  of  popular  antagonism.  Newspap«s  and  ^npopuUr- 
pamphleteers  attacked  it  from  all  sides.  It  was  hailed  Mwp^ 
as  the  inauguration  of  continental  despotism  and  as  the 
first  step  toward  subverting  the  liberties  of  Englishmen. 
Inflammatory  placards  called  on  Londoners  to  rise  in 
riot  against  "Peel's  bloody  gang."  *  Individual  constables 
were  assaulted,  and  when  one  of  their  number  was 
killed  in  an  affray  the  jury  brought  in  a  verdict  of 
"justifiable  homicide."  For  a  time  it  looked  as  if  Peel's 
law  would  have  to  be  repealed  before  the  popular 
clamor  could  be  allayed;  but  the  system  manag^  to 
weather  the  storm  and  by  1836  the  opposition  had  calmed 
down,  an  outcome  hugely  due  to  the  high  caliber  of  the  new 
police  constables  and  to  the  excellent  work  which  they  per- 
formed. Crime  diminished,  till  London  became  safe  both 
day  and  night.  The  results  were  so  good,  indeed,  that  in 
this  yeir  (1836)  parliament,  by  the  Municipal  Corporations 
Act,  required  the  other  cities  and  borough  of  England  to 
establish  poUce  i^rstems  on  a  similar  model  but  under  local 
control.  In  1839  the  counties  were  permitted  to  adopt  a 
constabulary,  and  in  1866  the  requirement  was  made  com- 
pulsory.' This  later  enactment  also  made  provision  for  the 
regular  inspection  of  borough  police  by  officials  attached 


^^  ■  By  way  of  nroastio  tribute  to  PmI,  the  new  poUoemen  wen  dabbed 

peelers"  and  "bobbiet."    In  an  attempt  to  unifOTm  them  in  moh  fashion 

M  to  allay  the  siupidon  that  timy  wne  a  military  bo^,  they  were  attired 

m  blue  ooats  and  copper  buttmu :  the  Engliah  soldier  wore  a  red  ooat 

and  brass  buttons.    The  copper  button  was,  in  fact,  so  prominmt  a 

part  of  the  new  constable's  attire  that  the  street  gimina  called  him  the 

copper."    In  America  we  have  durtened  it  to  "con." 

•19-20  Victoria,  oh. «». 


TW 


W^r 


w 


wm 


BMaryot 
polio*  in 
AmtriM. 


266     PRINCIPLES  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

to  the  Home  Office,  —  a  feature  which  is  fully  explained  i 
few  pagee  later. 

POLICE  DEYELOPMEMT  IN  AMEBK!A 

The  history  of  police  administration  in  America  bears  i 
strildng  resemblance  to  that  just  outlined.  During  th 
colonial  period  the  work  of  policing  the  cities  and  towni 
such  as  th^  were,  was  intrusted,  as  in  England,  to  unpai( 
constables  and  watchmen.  In  places  like  New  York  am 
Philadelphia  every  able-bodied  householder  was  require( 
either  to  serve  his  turn  as  watchman  or  to  furnish  a  sub 
stitute.^  This  plan,  supplemented  in  the  larger  towns  b; 
the  employment  of  a  few  paid  constables  and  marshals,  wa 
continued  after  the  Revolution  until  about  1840.  As  lat 
as  that.  New  York  City,  with  a  population  of  over  300,00C 
had  no  scheme  of  systematic  day-patrol  duty.  The  work  o 
policing  the  city  was  performed  by  a  force  consisting  of  tw 
constables  elected  in  each  of  the  seventeen  wards,  abou 
one  hundred  paid  marshals  appointed  by  the  mayor,  an( 
three  hundred  citizen  watchmen  drawn  from  men  wh< 
patrolled  by  night  but  worked  at  their  regular  vocation 
during  the  day.  This  makeshift  arrangement  served  it 
purpose  so  poorly  that  in  1844  it  was  supplemented  by  i 
regular  force  of  eight  hundred  professional  policemen. 
These  men,  however,  being  appointed  by  the  mayor  on  th 
recommendation  of  the  aldermen,  and  hence  owing  thei 
places  mainly  to  poUtical  influence,  rarely  proved  efficient 
consequently  they  also  failed  to  serve  the  needs  of  a  growinj 
city.  In  1857,  accordingly,  the  state  legislature  of  New  Yorl 
undertook  an  investigation  of  police  conditions  in  the  city 
with  the  result  that  a  decision  to  adopt  the  English  sjrsten 

>  E.  p.  Allison  and  Boies  Penrose,  History  cf  PhUaddphifi  (ndlwidpliii 
1887),  p.  34.  A  misoellaneoas  amount  of  information  oonceraing  th 
eariy  police  organization  of  New  York  City  is  given  in  A.  E.  CoftcUo* 
Our  Police  Protectors  (3d  ed..  New  YotIc,  1885). 

*  Laws  of  New  York,  1844,  oh.  446. 


POl.ri    ,   .  ^MINISTRATION 


287 


was  reached.  By  ar  act  of  the  l^pslature  a  metropolitan 
police  district  was  created,  made  up  of  New  York  City  and 
Brookljm,  together  with  Webtohester  and  Richmond  coun- 
ties, and  this  district  was  put  in  charge  of  a  police  board, 
the  members  of  which  were  appointed  by  the  govern  i  >  of  the 
state.  The  system  of  citizen  watchmen  was  abolished,  and 
the  whole  force  was  reorganized  upon  the  London  model.^ 
So  closely,  in  fact,  was  this  model  followed  that  even  the 
uniforms  were  eventually  copied,  —  blue  coats,  helmets, 
copper  buttons,  and  all.  Although  the  plan  was  not  much 
relished  by  contemporary  public  opinion  in  New  York,  it 
aroused  no  such  outburst  as  that  wUch  greeted  its  establish- 
ment in  London.  Here  as  there  it  quickly  proved  its  su- 
periority over  the  police  system  which  it  had  displaced  and 
soon  fotmd  adoption  in  other  cities. 


STATE   INTERVBNnON  IN  IICNICIPAL  FOUCB  MATTBB8 

Dissatisfaction  with  the  methods  of  local  police  adminis- 
tration was  very  general  throughout  the  cities  of  the  United  ^* 
States  during  the  years  preceding  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  poUoe. 
war,  and  after  the  war  opened  matters  grew  much  worse. 
Riots  in  connection  with  the  drafting  of  soldiers  often 
occurred  and  the  local  constables  proved  powerless  to 
handle  them,  although  this  was  not  the  only  cause  of 
police  troubles.  Li  several  states,  therefore,  the  legislature 
intervened  to  take  tl  e  poUce  entirely  out  of  the  city's  hands. 
In  Baltimore  this  was  done  in  1860 ;  tiie  poUce  of  St.  Louis 
and  Chicago  were  put  under  state  control  in  the  following 
year ;  Detroit  in  1865  and  Cleveland  in  1866  had  the  same 
experience.  In  all  these  cities  the  establishment  of  state 
control  brought  with  it  a  conaderable  reorganisation  along 
the  lines  which  New  York  had  adopted  from  London, 
although  in  some  of  them  material  progress  in  this  direction 
had  aheady  been  made  by  the  local  authorities.  This  partic- 
>  Lawa  «/  New  York,  1857.  oh.  660. 


268     PRIKCIPLB8  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


ular  phase  uf  the  new  police  policy  —  state  contnd  —  i 
so  unpopular  in  all  the  cities  to  which  it  applied,  howev 
that  even  after  the  citisens  had  fully  accommodated  the 
sdves  to  the  idea  of  a  professional,  uniformed  body  th 
resentment  against  outside  control  continued.  According 
in  due  time  there  came  a  reaction.  In  1870  the  New  Yc 
legislature  repealed  its  metropolitan  police  statute  of  181 
abolished  the  poUce  district,  and  gave  police  control  ba 
into  the  hands  of  the  New  York  and  Brooklyn  mtmid] 
authorities.  Similar  action  was  taken  at  different  dates 
regard  to  Chicago,  Detroit,  and  Cleveland ;  but  in  St.  Lot 
and  Baltimore  state  control  of  municipal  police  has  be 
continued  to  the  present  day.  Cincinnati  had  state  cont 
of  its  police  from  1886  to  1902.  In  1886  Boston  join 
the  three  last-named  places,  the  legislature  of  Massachuse 
having  in  that  year  taken  the  police  out  of  the  city's  sup 
vision ;  and  during  the  last  three  or  four  decades  state  cc 
trol  has  also  been  applied  to  various  smaller  cities  in  diff( 
ent  states.  Of  the  seven  laigest  municipalities  in  the  Unit 
States,  four  (New  York,  Chicago,  Philadelphia,  and  Clei 
land)  now  control  their  own  police  administration,  wh 
three  (St.  Louis,  Boston,  and  Baltimore)  continue  subjc 
to  state  supervision. 


IS  8TAT-<    FOUCB  CONTBOL  DE8IRABLB? 

Various  arguments  have  been  advanced  in  favor  of  t 

atatawmted  ^^'^  °'  ^*®  po^c*  control  in  large  cities.    The  work 

ofmuaidiMa  the  police,  it  has  oft«i  been  pointed  out,  is  largely  thait 

»*"**•         enforcing  the  state  laws ;  indeed,  the  courts  have  decid 

that  poUce  officers,  even  though  appointed  and  paid  by  tl 

municipality,  are  agents  of  the  state.*    To  them  must 

'  >  "Poltoe  offioCTi  (Mm  in  no  jenae  be  regarded  as  atpaU  oi*  asrvaRti 
the  city.  Their  duties  tin  at  %  poblic  nature.  Their  appoh  tm^nt  is  ( 
volved  on  cities  and  towns  by  the  lecialature  as  a  oonveoient  ;^ode  of  i 
ereising  a  funotion  ot  govemmeot."  —  Bitrbicx  t.  Lownx,  1  Al 
(Mass.)  172. 


POUCB  ADMINISTRATION 


360 


large  measure  be  intruated  the  enforeement  of  the  lUte 
laws.    The  poUoe  of  the  cities  and  towns,  if  negligent  and 
corrapt,  can  practically  ne^tive  anything  that  the  legia* 
lature  jnay  seek  to  perform  by  the  enactment  of  new  laws. 
Take  the  excise  or  liquc.  laws,  for  e&  nple.    No  matter 
how  stringent  the  state-wide  regulations  on  such  matters, 
they  will  accomplish  little  if  the  police,  at  the  instigation  of 
elective  municipal  authorities,  prove  lax  or  dishonest  in 
applying  them.    TTie  whole  state,  moreover,  has  a  particular 
interert  in  the  efficiency  of  urban  police  from  the  fact  that 
the  city,  and  not  the  rural  district,  is  the  chief  habitat  of 
the  criminal  class.    Since,  then,  the  moral  tone  of  the  state, 
its  reputation  for  the  proper  maintenance  of  law  and  order, 
depends  largely  upon  the  cities,  it  follows  that  no  other 
department  of  municipal  administration  so  direetly  a£feei« 
the  people  of  the  entire  state  as  does  the  police  estoblish- 
ment.    State  control  is  sometimes  the  only  way  in  which 
a  reasoD-ble  efficiency  of  1*8  police  administration  in  a 
large  city  can  be  secured.    The  local  conditions  are  at  times 
such  that,  when  the  department  is  left  in  local  hands,  par- 
tisan and  sinister  influences  cannot  be  withstood.    Municipal 
control  may  in  some  cases  mean  alMolute  domination  by 
politicians  or  by  the  liquor  interest. 

But  the  case  for  state  control  oug^t  to  be  very  strong 
before  it  is  adopted  as  a  poUcy.  Not  only  is  it  always  un-  oi>Mfc>« 
popular,  but  it  is  in  many  ways  a  violation  of  municipal  *"'*"*' 
home  rule  because  it  forces  the  taxpayen  of  the  dty  to  pay 
all  the  expenses  of  a  department  without  giving  them  any 
direct  influence  in  shaping  its  policy.  Throu^out  Eiirope 
the  central  governments,  when  th^  control  local  poKce,  also 
contribute  part  of  the  cost.  In  some  American  states  popu- 
lar feeling  on  this  point  has  been  strong  enough  to  insert 
provisions  in  the  constitution  forbidding  legislatures  to 
Msume  direct  control  over  municipal  police  or  any  other 
mumcipal  department.  Such  a  prohibition  can  usually  be 
evaded,  however,  by  the  device  of  creating  a  special  police 


iniiiiiiiiiiiHiiiimi 


270     PRINCIPLBB  OF  MX7NI0IPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


diitriet  to  include  a  dty  and  some  territoiy  outnde ;  fc 
a  special  district  the  state  may  oceroise  police  control  n 
out  infringing  the  (institutional  rights  guaranteed  to 
city  or  cities  included  in  the  district.'  Furthermore,  s 
police  control,  while  it  usually  makes  for  greater  effidei 
is  correspondingly  expensive  as  a  rule.  The  state-appoii 
authorities  get  from  the  dty  whatever  funds  they  ask 
the  dty  has  no  right  to  deny  or  curtail  thdr  request.  H( 
there  is  no  such  rigid  check  on  costliness  as  that  wl 
exists  when  the  estimates  of  a  munidpal  department  n 
be  approved  by  the  mayor  and  dty  couneiL  It  is  tc 
remembered,  however,  that,  no  matter  which  authori^ 
in  control,  outright  waste  or  extravagance  as  the  resul 
official  incompetence  is  not  half  so  likdy  to  make  h( 
way  in  the  police  department  as  in  most  other  bnuu 
of  dty  administration.  By  far  the  greater  portion 
the  annual  police  budget  is  devoted  to  salaries  and  ] 
dons,  and  both  these  things  are  usually  fixed  l^ 
or  ordinance.'  Finally,  it  may  be  set  down  as  extres 
doubtful  whether  state  control  would  increase  police 

'The  ooiutitatioiulity  of  atete  pdiee  oontnd  hM  been  vphtl 
MaaMjhnietts,  whore  the  oonstitation  is  lilent  on  the  whole  matt 
state  interference  in  city  affairs  (Commonwealth  v.  Flaisted,  148  J 
374).  h  Kentttoky,  where  the  eonstitution  i»ovides  that  "i^  mnai 
<dBor ,  - ''  *  <^  eleoted,"  the  proposed  establishment  of  state  poUee  < 
misk  »:  •  '  1  as  was  deolarad  unoonstitntional  (Shad  v.  Cnimta 
Met-  '''\.  .  ^  ..J7).  The  right  of  the  legialature  to  exeraiae  oontrol 
a  wpet.  jtp^ted  polioe  distiiot  comiwising  more  than  a  siai^ 
(despite  a  oonstitutionid  prohibition  of  state  appointment  of  mnni 
offloers)  wus  upheld  in  People  v.  Drapo*,  15  AT.  Y.  532.  Bnt  it  ma] 
make  sueh  a  qwdal  district  out  of  a  single  <Aty  (People  v.  Albwtsoi 
N.  Y.  60). 

*  The  following  figures,  which  show  the  relatively  large  peceentage  i 
by  the  Boston  polioe  department  for  salaries  and  pensions,  will  iOof 
this  point :  — 


YsAa 

PaacBirrAaB  or  8  ALAmiw 
IN  Ti»~L  BzPBmnnna 

PsBcmTAoa  or 
Pamioin 

TOCAL 

1911 
1912 

82% 
87% 

6.4% 
6.6% 

88.4% 
93.5% 

POUOI  ADMINI8TB4TION 


an 


deney  in  some  dtiet.  If  the  general  etancUrd  of  itate 
government  u  distinetly  higher  than  that  of  the  dty, 
and  if  a  governor  can  be  trusted  to  make  appointments 
without  regard  to  partisan  considerations,  there  is  a  good 
deal  tu  be  said  for  state  control  when  the  occasion  for  it 
arises;  but,  if  the  general  tone  of  stote  politics  is  no  better 
than  that  which  exists  in  the  dty,  the  change  will  do  little 
or  nothing  to  promote  efficiency.  The  policy  of  state  con- 
trol is  not  gaining  ground  in  America.* 

State  control  of  municipal  police  is  exercised  in  different 
wajrs.    In  Boston  the  police  department  is  put  in  charge  of  Howiiait 
a  single  commissioner,  who  is  appointed  by  the  governor  of  ^SUSl 
MaMschusetts  (with  the  consent  of  the  executive  council)  for 
a  five-year  term.'    The  commissioner  has  full  control  of  the 
city's  police  department,  excq)t  that  he  must  submit  to  the 
mayor's  approval  all  increases  or  decreases  in  the  number  or 
the  pay  of  the  force.    In  Baltimore  the  police  departifUnt  is 
controlled  by  a  board  of  three  commissioners  elected  by  the 
two  chambers  of  the  Maryland  legislature  in  joint  session ;  *•  ^ 
they  serve  for  a  three-year  term  and  one  retires  annually.*'  ^"***- 
In  St.  Louis  the  state  board  is  made  up  of  four  members 
appointed  by  the  governor  of  Missouri,  with  the  mayor  of 
the  city  acting  as  a  fifth  member  ex  ojjkio*    In  foreign 
cities,  when  the  state  authorities  exerdse  supervision  over 
local  police,  they  invariably  do  so  through  the  agency  of  a 
angle  commissioner.    In  Paris  control  and  management 

>  FurtW  diMOMdoiM  of  the  aigomento  for  and  aniiut  itato  mmtad 

Po^KM.  (Nefw  York,  lg99).  19. 422-435;  L.  P.  Puld'a  Poliee  AiminitnHom 

S-171  "  f'neteitno,  of  ih.  National  Municipal  Uagw,  1909,  pp. 

■>  Mauaehuttat  Acta  and  Rttobm,  1908,  oh.  291.  See  abo  SUOutn 
±1*^ '",.**«^*V  «?f  B~ten  (ed.  T.  M.  Bab«>n.  Boiton.  1908),  oh.  M 
{  The  Pobce  CommladoiMr"). 

15?"*"^*  ^**  ^<^  (BiJtiinore,  1906),  pp.  44»-487. 
m.  Jt.^^P'^  *^  *•  '"^  ("*•  *•  R-  Romb»ii«r,  St.  Lonie,  1918). 

WM  defeated  by  the  votenrf  the  dty  in  1916w 


^ 


:m 


t.  la 

Kurop*. 


TImXdi. 

IkhpUnof 


272     PRINCIPLIB  OF  UUNIOIPAL  ADMINIBTIUTION    j 

are  vetted  in  a  prefect  of  police  appointed  1^  the  preiN 
of  the  republic;  in  London  the  crown  appoints  a  fd 
commifleioner  to  head  the  metropolitan  police  qrtt 
Berlin,  Vienna,  Rome,  and  Madrid,  all  of  them  under  • 
supervision,  have  single  police  commiasionerB.*  In  m 
smaller  cities,  such  as  Breslau,  Cologne,  and  Konigsbeil 
Germany,  or  Marsdlles  and  Lyons  in  France,  the  nati< 
l^vemment  also  exercises  direct  control  throui^  its^ 
pointed  officers.  Even  in  a  city  where  a  local  offiofj 
immediately  in  charge  he  usually  acts  as  tiie  agmt  of^ 
central  authorities.  In  Great  Britain,  however,  thei^ 
real  local  autonomy  in  all  cities  other  than  London,  1 
authority  in  control  in  each  case  being  a  committee  oi, 
municipal  council. 

These  provincial  cities  of  Ene^d  afford  an  iUustrd 
of  the  way  in  wliich  local  control  may,  in  the  interei| 
efficiency,  be  linked  with  a  system  of  state  supervisiai 
inspection.  In  each  of  them  the  municipal  police  d«(^ 
ment  is  directly  controUed  by  a  standing  committee  of 
city  council  —  the  Watch  Committee,  it  is  called ;  but 
least  once  a  year  the  department  is  inspected  by  cen 
officers  known  as  the  inspectors  of  constabulary,  who! 
attached  to  the  office  of  the  home  secretary.  If  one 
these  inq>ector8  reports  that  the  dty's  police  departmen 
up  to  the  prescribed  standard,  the  national  treasury  ^ 
tributes  through  a  general  subvention,  or  grant! 
aid,  a  considerable  proportion  of  the  annual  cos^ 
maintaining  it.'  The  inspection  is  not  very  rigid  andl 
national  subvention  is  practically  never  denied ;  never^ 
less,  the  plan  suggests  a  way  in  which  a  central  authoj 

■  See  the  chapter  on  "The  Pblkw  Department  in  the  Bute,"  in  1 
mond  Foadick's  Evroptan  PoUu  flyatonu  (New  Toric.  1915). 

>  The  amount  it  one  half  of  the  total  ezpenditnre  for  pay  and  ei 
ing  of  polioe.  For  the  year  nding  March  31,  1911.  the  gnm  m> 
loeal  pdioe  (includinc  pay,  oiothinc,  mippUet,  and  all  other  itama^ 
£6,747373,  tA  which  the  national  exoheqner  contribated  £2^151,731 
Inmost  «Eaetiy  one  third  (see  Report  c/  H.  M.  Itupedor  ef  CM^AtdoHl 
Engkmd  and  Watt,  1911,  p.  131). 


FOUOl  ADMnninUTION 


97S 


can  get  the  advantagM  of  itoto  «>oiitiol  if  it  !•  raady  to  pay 
for  the  privilege. 


FOUd  OMAIflL        H 

When  control  of  it*  police  adminiatration  ia  left  with  the 
city  itself,  important  queations  ariae  emioeminff  the  piopw 
method  of  exerdaing  thia  control.    Shall  the  dinN^on  of 
the  police  department  be  given  to  a  aingle  commiaaioner  or 
to  a  board?    In  either  event  how  ahall  the  af^intmenta 
be  made,  for  what  terma,  and  under  what  arrangementaaa 
to  removal?    Moat  dtiea,  both  in  the  United  Statea  and 
elsewhere,  have  adopted  the  aing^e-oommiflsioner  plan,  and 
for  good  reaaona.    If  a  police  dquurtment  ia  to  do  ita  work 
properly,  promptneia  and  firmneaa  of  action  are  imperative. 
DeUberation  may  be  a  uaefiil  attribute  of  adminiatration 
in  other  city  departmenta,  aa,  for  example,  in  the  manage- 
ment of  the  schoola  or  the  parka ;  but  in  the  police  deptat- 
ment  no  more  of  it  ia  uaually  needed  than  one  man  can  give. 
There  is  no  more  room  for  a  board  at  the  head  of  the  dty'a 
police  than  for  a  board  at  the  head  of  an  army  in  the  field. 
Many  American  dtiea  have  tried  the  ^yatem  of  police  man- 
agement by  boarda,  and  aomr  smaDer  dtiea  still  pursue  thia 
poHcy  on  the  prindple  thirt  both  political  parties  ahoui '   •« 
represented  in  the  d(b«rminatKw   of   ^hj^cb  poli<^;    ha« 
neither  in  this  nor    a  any  other  ^     otly  administrative 
branch  of  munidpal  government  has  vne  bi-partisan  board 
proved  other  than  a  dehision  and  a  snare     It  merdy 
affords  a  sure  method  of  putting  a  dp     'musnt  on  a  rtrict^ 
political  bads.     It  makes  certain  th  , .  thing  ahall  be 

treated  as  patronage,  and  inddentali  i  this  patronage 

shaU  be  distributed  within  the  part  represented.  A 
more  vidous  system  of  police  manageman-  It  would  be  hard 
to  devise. 

The  police  department  demands  the  .   tiie  time  and 
thought  of  some  one;  its  problems  cannot       deeded  t9 


tiMiaf 


tiMaboMNL 


mmmmm 


■PPM 


LI 


Hi'-  -^ 


274     PRINCIPLH  OP    lUNICIPAt  ADMIKIITRATION 

J«J2^*«««»  intheleimiraofthreeorfouriiMn.  Th4  ■ingle'eommiMio 
-•--^  plan  of  control  is  therdore  not  me.-dy  the  better  ir^ 
but  the  only  dependable  one,  a  conoluiion  that  the  exp 
oioe  of  Baltimore  and  St.  Louis  ean  corroborate  at  mi 
points.  As  to  the  method  of  selecting  the  single  head 
the  department,  the  most  natural  way  is  by  the  may« 
appointmoit  (or  appointment  by  the  governor  where  th 
is  state  control).  The  police  commissioner  should 
directly  and  solely  rer^nsible  to  the  chief  exeeutive  oA 
of  the  city  or  state,  vnd  throuf^  him  to  the  people; 
aldennanic  or  other  confirmation  should  be  required.  I 
perience  has  fully  shown  that  the  confirmation  systi 
servos  no  useful  purpose  exci-pt  to  enable  a  mayor  to  sli 
responsibilities  which  oughi  properly  to  rest  on  himi 
alone.  In  cities  that  have  adopted  the  commission  type 
government  and  even  in  some  large  communities,  n 
as  Philadelphia  and  Rttsburi^,  which  have  not  done  i 
the  police  and  fire  departments  are  usually  put  togetl 
under  an  elective  official  called  the  commissioner  of  pub 
safety,  a  consolidation  for  whidi  there  is  much  to  be  si 
in  the  case  of  smaller  municipalities.*  In  largor  eitii 
however,  each  of  these  two  departments  seems  to  br 
sufficient  importance  and  complexity  to  demand  a 
missioner's  whole  time. 

Since  in  any  large  city  the  police  department  has  swva 
somewhat  differrat  but  allied  functions  to  pei-form,  it 
customary  to  divide  the  work  amouj.  t/treaus  c:  divisioi 
within  the  department.  First  and  mos,:,  important  is  ti 
duty  of  patrolling  the  streets.  This  work  takes  the  tin 
and  energies  of  at  least  80  per  cent  of  all  the  officers  si 
men  at  the  disposal  of  the  department.  It  oonstitutss 
branch  of  police  activity  which  is  usually  performed  under  tS 
direct  supervision  of  headquarters,  that  is  to  say,  under  ti 
superintendence  of  the  commissioner  and  his  deputies.  F( 
the  more  efficient  discharge  of  this  function,  as  will  be  mm 

*  See  p.  887,  below. 


Interna) 

organin- 

tionoftbe 

poUoede- 

partmrnit 


POUOB  ADMINIITiUTION 


276 


fuUy  explained  later  on,  the  dty  ia  divided  into  diatriots  or  Th.r,». 
piecincta,  each  with  a  polioe  atation  aa  local  headquarten   ^!*' ''''**- 
In  the  aeeond  plaoe,  there  ia  the  work  of  ferreting  out  *«^ 
information  on  all  criminal  mattera.    Thia  taak  may  be 
given  to  a  central  detective  bureau  or  bureau  of  criminal 
investigation  with  ita  regular  ataff  of  inapecton,  or  it  may 
be  intnwted  entirely  to  detectives  who  are  attached,  with- 
out any  difference  of  rank,  to  the  varioua  atationa.    The 
former  arrangement,  which  haa  been  uied  with  marked 
nicer  my  larger  American  dtiea,  aeems  to  be  much 

the  i . f  1  me.'  There  ia  alao  the  work  of  maintaining  the 
telephv  0  patrol-box  qratem  with  ita  wirea,  cable*,  and 
acceaeories,  — work  which  require*  a  apedal  aort  of  akiU 
and  which  for  that  reaaon  i*  aometime*  aaaigned  to  a  aepa- 
rate  branch  of  the  department.  FrequenUy,  too,  the  traffic 
aquad  forms  a  special  division,  and  so  do  the  harbor  police 
when  there  are  such  officers.  The  management  of  the  dty 
pn»on,  if  one  is  maintained,  is  hkewise  a  particular  function  • 
and,  finaUy,  when  the  poUce  are  detailed  for  the  work  of 
^antmg  licenses,  or  listing  voters,  or  for  other  «i*»iiwr 
offices,  patrohnen  must  for  a  time  at  least  be  detached  from 
their  regular  duties. 

It  wiU  be  seen,  therefore,  th«t  a  connderable  variety  of 
tilings  come  under  the  general  caption  of  police  administra-  c«rt»itart 

tion,  and  that  if  they  are  aU  to  be  done  property  there  must  ^USSH 
be  a  great  deal  of  weU-articukted  machinery  within  the  ~^**~ 
department.  The  Uuger  European  dties  have  devoted 
much  attention  to  this  problem.  In  the  details  of  organi- 
aation  they  of  course  differ  condderably:  in  some  cities. 
Mm  Berlin,  everything  is  intensdy  centralized,  while  in 
others,  as  m  Vienna  and  London,  an  opposite  policy  haa 
been  pursued  with  equal  or  even  greater  success.  B.t  in 
any  case  the  police  department  of  the  large  city,  whether  in 
Amenca  or  abroad,  muat  be  subdivided  into  branches  or 


276     PRINCIPLES  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

bureaus,  each  with  its  own  function  and  each  with  a  dep 
commissioner  or  other  high  subordinate  at  its  head.  E 
many  of  these  bureaus  will  be  needed  depends  partly  u] 
the  breadth  of  the  duties  to  be  performed  (that  is,  u] 
whether  such  matters  as  licensing,  sanitary  inspection,  list 
of  voters,  etc.,  are  intrusted  to  the  police),  and  partly  u] 
the  readiness  of  the  authorities  to  put  full  responsibility 
various  unrelated  matters  upon  the  officers  in  command 
the  station.  The  type  of  internal  organization  is  not,  h( 
ever,  a  controlling  factor  in  the  efficiency  of  the  force.  1 
much  stress  should  not  be  laid  upon  it ;  for  with  all  tli 
divergences  in  point  of  internal  arrangements  the  fact  rema 
that  Vienna  and  Berlin  have  both  been  tmiformly  v 
policed.  In  its  quest  for  the  factors  and  principles  tl 
have  made  for  efficient  police  administration  abroad,  i 
American  city  must  therefore  look  beyond  the  mere  meclu 
ism  of  the  department.^ 


THE  COMHISSIONEB 

The  police  commissioner,  or  the  responsible  head  of  1 

ThepoUce     police  department,  is  sometimes  a  man  of  special  traini 

ifener:  hia    who  has  previously  served  as  a  subordinate  police  officer  a 

^^JlJ^"**  has  been  promoted.    More  often,  on  the  other  hand,  he  i 

tions.  man  who  steps  into  the  highest  post  directly  from  civil 

life.    Which  of  these  two  methods  of  selecting  a  pel 

commissioner  is  likely,  in  the  long  run,  to  gain  better  serv 

for  the  city  it  is  difficult  to  say.    Hie  work  of  managi 

properly  a  police  force  numbering  from  a  thousand  to  < 

thousand  men  is  a  professional  task  requiring  both  spec 

skill  and  special  capacity,  —  there  is  no  doubt  about  thi 

but  it  is  also  a  task  which,  in  America  at  least,  calls  foi 

'  A  fuQ  deaoription  of  the  intoiuJ  wguiizatioii  of  pdfase  in  tin  d 
oitiea  of  Europe  is  given  in  Raymond  Fosdiok's  European  Poliet  Sfit 
(New  Tork,  1915),  oh.  iii.  There  is  a  genoal  survey  of  the  aune  Un 
for  Amwioan  oitiee,  in  C.  R.  Hendenon's  CarreeUtm  and  PrttenHon  (4  n 
ITew  Ywrk,  1810),  ii.  1-14. 


POUCl  ADMINIffFRATION 


277 


broad  outlook,  a  ready  responnveness  to  the  reasonable 
demands  of  pubUc  opinion,  and  a  temperament  that  is  not 
too  bureaucratic  in  character.  The  commissioner  who  has 
grown  up  in  the  department  usuaUy  has  the  professional 
skiU  and  knowledge,  but  quite  as  commonly  lacks  the  other 
quaUties ;  on  the  other  hand,  the  layman  who  may  possess 
the  latter  qualifications  can  know  but  Uttle  about  the  tech- 
nical branches  of  poKce  administration.  The  professional 
experience  and  the  personal  attributes  are  rarely  given  to 
the  same  man;  yet  both  are  essential  to  success  in  the 
headship  of  a  police  department. 

A  solution  of  the  problem  is  usuaUy  found  when  the  right 
sort  of  layman  is  put  in  charge.    He  will  not  settie  technical  the  i.,m« 
questions  on  his  own  judgment ;  he  wiU  see  that  his  highest  ^^S* 
subordmate,  the  chief  of  poUce  or  the  superintendent,  deter-  «»««*«««»». 
mines  on  such  things,  subject  of  course  to  his  general  review 
You  can  hire  skill  in  a  subordinate,  but  you  cannot  easily 
keep  police  poUcy  in  tune  with  popular  chords  except  by 
having  at  its  head  a  man  whose  training  has  been  outside 
of  the  department  altogether.    The  officer  who  has  spent 
his  Me  withm  poUce  circles  is  too  apt  to  see  things  fi«m  the 
wrong  angle.    He  may  fail  to  keep  in  mind  the  fact  that  the 
pohce  exist  for  the  pubUc,  not  the  pubUc  for  the  police. 
M  thmgs  considered,  the  citiaen  commissioner  has  proved 
the  better  type  in  American  cities  whenever  he  has  been 
left  m  the  office  long  enough  to  familiarise  himself  with  its 
general  problems.    A  conspicuous  example  is  afforded  by 
the  experience  of  Boston  during  the  last  ten  years.    There 
IS  always  the  danger,  however,  that  if  the  appointment  is 
made  from  the  general  ranks  of  citisenship  the  department 
wi    get  the  wrong  sort  of  man,  — that  the  mayor  either 
will  use  the  appointment  to  pay  a  poKtical  debt  or  will  put 
a  weak-kneed  poUtician  in  the  post  as  a  concession  to  the 
mmors  that  always  come  from  partisan  quarters  or  from 
tho»e  who  are  interested  in  a  lax  enforoement  of  the  Uws. 
ihe  successful  pohce  commissioner  must  be  a  man  of 


The  per- 
sonal quali- 
tibs  needed 
in  a  police 
commis- 
sioner. 


l-l: 


ii 


i  n. 


The  police 
oommis- 
sioner's 
functions. 


278     PRINCIPLES  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

unquestionable  intcgritj',  beyond  the  reach  of  all  nefario 
influence.  He  must  have  qualities  of  firmness  and  decisii 
in  abundance;  the  police  commissioner's  office  is  the  k 
place  in  the  world  for  a  weakling  or  a  wobbler.  He  mu 
be  quick  to  grasp  situations  and  as  quick  to  deal  with  thei 
He  must  know  and  respect  the  laws  of  the  land,  for  on  I 
attitude  will  largely  depend  the  people's  respect  for  thei 
But  above  and  beyond  these  qualifications  he  will  fail  unle 
he  knows  how  to  deal  with  the  public,  with  local  organiz 
tions,  with  the  organs  of  public  opinion  (especially  the  new 
papers),  and  with  his  own  subordinates.  His  post  requir 
Infinite  prudence,  forbearance,  and  tact.  Yet  the  post  is 
thankless  one  at  best,  and  brings  to  the  right  sort  of  nu 
much  less  pecuniary  return  than  his  quaUties  would  coi 
mand  in  the  outer  world.  The  incumbent  must  seek  li 
chief  reward  in  a  sense  of  duty  well  performed  and  of  pul 
lie  service  efficiently  given. 

The  relative  importance  of  these  various  personal  qual 
fications  will  appear  more  clearly  from  a  brief  enumeratic 
of  the  things  which  the  head  of  a  police  department  has  \ 
do.  He  is  the  commander-in-chief  of  the  city's  armi 
forces,  with  all  the  powers  of  direction  and  discipline  thi 
the  tenure  of  such  a  post  implies.  He  is  at  headquartei 
from  morning  till  night  issuing  the  general  orders,  disposii 
additional  forces  where  they  may  be  needed,  receiving  v 
ports,  providing  for  the  trial  of  those  police  officers  againi 
whom  any  charges  have  been  made,  and  consulting  with  h 
chief  subordinates.  He  must  also  consider  and  personall 
dispose  of  the  many  complaints  that  come  to  him  dail 
from  the  public  or  through  the  newspapers.  He  must  sup« 
vise  the  machinery  of  appointment  and  promotion  withi 
the  department.  He  must  arrange  for  cooperation  betwee 
his  own  and  other  city  departments,  and  so  must  hav 
dealings  almost  daily  with  the  mayor,  the  coundlmoi,  th 
chief  officials,  and  the  school  authorities.  The  lines  of  coi 
trol  over  all  the  police  precincts  converge  in  his  office. 


POLICE  ADMINISTRATION 


370 


In  selecting  their  police  coumissioners,  European  and 
American  cities  have  on  the  whole  pursued  quite  different  Selection  of 
policies.    In  Europe  it  has  never  been  the  conunon  practice  miidoMiif 
to  take  such  high  officials  directly  from  private  vocations. 
Nor  is  it  true  that  the  head  of  the  city's  police  sjrstem  in 
France,  Germany,  or  England  is  usually  drawn  from  the 
military  service.    The  commissioner's  chief  subordinate  — 
the  officer  in  immediate  conunand  of  the  uniformed  force  —  ^-^ 
may  come  from  the  army  list,  but  not  the  commissioner  or        *** 
prefect  or  director,  as  the  supreme  head  is  variously  called  in 
different  countries.*    On  the  other  hand,  it  is  everywhere 
customary  to  look  upon  the  highest  post  in  the  municipal 
police  service  as  one  that  requires  professional  equipment 
and  training,  although  this  preparation  need  not  always 
have  been  gained  in  the  police  department  itself.    Com- 
missioners are  frequently  taken  from  related  departments, 
—  from  the  legal  service  of  the  city  or  the  state,  for  example ; 
or  successful  prior  service  in  some  high  administrative  ca- 
pacity, even  though  it  has  not  in  any  way  involved  direct 
contact  with  police  problems,  meets  the  usual  requireiuent. 
Two  thin^  one  will  practically  never  encoimter  in  any 
continental  city,  —  namely,  a  police  commissioner  appointed 
directly  from  non-official  life,  or  a  police  commissioner  who 
has  risen  from  the  patrolling  ranks.    Social  barriers  every- 
where preclude  the  latter  alternative.    Rismg  from  the 
ranks  is  possible  in  England ;  but  the  chief  constable  of  the 
English  provincial  city  has  nothing  like  the  wide  range  of 
discretionary  power  that  devolves  upon  the  Prussian  police 
director.    Continental   cities   lay   great    stress   on   social 
qualifications,  education,  and  administrative  experience. 

In  America,  on  the  other  hand,  the  choice  of  a  police 
commissioner  or  director  is  very  frequently  made  from  the 
ranks  of  private  citizenship,  and  selection  from  among 

i>iA-??r°°i?*^  Fosdiok,  European  Pcliee  Syitenu  (New  York,  1915),  pp. 
iw-isi.  In  Appendix  viii  the  author  gives  a  oonoiis  desoriptioa  of  the 
'^^  .  J*'  appointmeat  and  o(  the  quaUfieatioaa  requiied  in  varioua 
cities  of  Europe. 


3.  In 
Ameriea. 


Theelikf 
(rf  police, 
OTMperin- 
tendent. 


280     PRINCIPLES  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

those  who  are  or  have  been  active  officers  in  the  police  ton 
is  also  not  uncommon.  Here  no  insuperable  barriers  lie  j 
the  way  of  promotion  from  the  ranks.  Whereas  in  Eub 
pean  countries;  again,  there  are  definite  ideas  as  to  whi 
qualifications  by  training  or  temperament  a  police  commi 
sioner  ought  to  have,  in  this  country  we  have  no  consent; 
of  any  sort,  or,  if  we  have,  it  rarely  maken  itself  effective  i 
selections.  Non-political  appointments  may  sometim< 
come  to  pass ;  but  it  would  be  no  exaggeration  to  say  thi 
throughout  the  cit'^s  of  the  United  States  not  one  selecti( 
in  ten  has  been  altogether  withovt  a  political  flavor  attacl 
ing  to  it.  Our  appointments  and  removals  have  to  a  larj 
extent  been  the  outward  manifestations  of  a  newly  electi 
mayor's  notions  concerning  the  strict  or  the  lax  enf orcemei 
of  the  laws.  If  thf  appointee  happens  to  have  risen  fro 
the  ranks,  that  fact  will  be  pointed  to  with  pride  as  an  e^ 
dence  of  the  mayor's  regard  for  the  merit  system,  li  1 
happens  to  have  had  no  police  experience  whatever,  tb 
fact  will  be  urged  as  evidence  of  the  ma;'or*s  desire  to  cu 
martinet  methods  in  the  department  or  to  put  the  adminj 
tration  on  a  himiane  basis.  In  either  case  a  willingness' 
do  the  mayor's  bidding  and  thus  serve  his  political  ambitio 
is  the  real  qualification  exacted.  Last  and  by  no  mea 
least,  the  American  official,  as  compared  with  his  Europei 
prototype,  is  assured  of  no  real  secxirity  of  tenure  i^ 
hence  has  no  encouragement  to  treat  his  position  ai^ 
profession.  j 

Some  large  cities  (Chicago,  for  example)  and  md 
smaller  ones  have  no  commissioner  at  the  head  of  t 
police  department,  but  depend  entirely  upon  a  chiefs 
superintendent  of  police  who  has  usually  been  promot 
from  the  service.  Such  an  official  performs  the  ordina 
functions  of  commissioner  and  chief  together ;  but  in  i 
cities,  whether  large  or  small,  the  chief's  office  is  prof estdoi 
in  nature.  That  is  why  it  has  in  some  cases  been  put  nni 
the  civil-service  rules.    The  chief  or  superintendent's  offi 


POUCB  ADMINISTRATION 


281 


is  at  headquarters,  and  he  is  the  main  connecting  link 
between  the  commisdoner  (or  board,  aa  the  case  may  be) 
and  the  rank  and  file  of  the  police  force.    It  is  to  the  chief 
or  superintendent  that  these  higher  authorities  turn  for  coun- 
sel on  all  questions  of  a  technical  nature.    It  is  therefore 
essential  that  he  shall  be   competent  and   trustworthy, 
owing  his  appointment  to  no  political  or  sinister  influence  ; 
but  too  often,  imhappily,  this  is  not  the  actual  situation. 
In  those  cities  where  the  chief  or  superintendent  of  ihe  police 
is  1  vi  final  authority  in  police  matters  under  the  mayor,  it 
is  not  uncommon  to  find  political  influences  playing  a  con- 
siderable part  in  his  appointment  or  promotion.    Even  the 
civilnservice  laws  do  not  always  guard  against  this  eviL 
"In  order  to  become  a  chief  of  police,"  as  a  recent  writer 
has  expressed  it  in  terms  which  unfortunately  too  often 
square  with  the  facts,  "a  man  must  at  the  present  day  have 
political  influence,  good  physical  condition,  seniority  of  ser- 
vice, comparative  freedom  from  oflicial  demerits,  a  very 
slight  mental  superiority,  sufficient  to  enable  him  to  pass  a 
civil  ser/ice  examination,  and  in  many  cities,  it  is  said,  suffi- 
cient money  to  lubricate  the  appointing  machinery."  *    li. 
is  fair  to  say,  however,  that  the  situation  in  this  regard  is 
st(iadily  improving  throughout  the  cities  of  the  United 
States. 


TEE  BANK  AND  FILB  OF  FOTJCB  DKPABmiEiNTB 

The  rank  and  file  of  the  police  force  in  a  great  city 
constitute  a  huge  corps  of  men.  Laige  communities  in  «»«' 
general  b«ve  relatively  more  policonen  per  thousand  of  feT"* 
populatio  n  small  ones  have.  The  London  metropolitan 
force  makw  up  a  little  army  of  nearly  twenty  thousand ; 
New  York's  total  is  over  ten  thousand.  In  proportion  to 
their  population  the  cities  of  this  country  are  not  so  ade- 
quately provided  with  police  as  are  those  of  Europe;  the 
•  L.  p.  Puld,  Pcliee  AdminiUration  (New  York,  1910),  p.  41. 


282     PRINCIPLBS  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION      \ 

number  of  police  in  Berlin,  for  example,  is  twice  as  lu; 
per  ten  thousand  of  population  as  that  in  Chicago.*  11^ 
difference,  it  ought  to  be  explained,  howevor,  is  due  in  p| 
to  the  larger  amount  of  clerical  work  and  the  greater  numl 
of  inspectorial  duties,  not  dirt'.tly  connected  with  patrolUi 
which  the  continental  police  have  to  perform.  The  listi 
their  subsidiary  functions  in  German  cities  particularty  i 
eludes  a  host  of  things,  —  press  censorship,  inspection! 
weights  and  measures,  supervision  of  societies,  examinati( 
of  passports,  and  so  forth,  offices  which  neither  in  Englai 
nor  in  America  are  ordinarily  intrusted  to  the  police.*  Bi 
even  <is  regards  the  corps  of  patrolmen  actually  on  tl 
streets  the  European  city  has  a  marked  numerical  advantag 
The  methods  of  distributing  the  force  do  not  differ  grea^ 
M^rads  of  from  place  to  place ;  the  military  pattern  is  closely  fij 
the  force,  lowed  everywhere.  Every  city  has  its  various  divisions  I 
police  purposes,  with  substantially  the  same  ranks  amoi 
officers  and  men  in  each  of  these  precincts  or  distiid 
Difference  among  cities,  both  at  home  aad  abroad,  a 
chiefly  in  matters  of  detail.  The  way  in  which,  the  poli 
force  is  distributed  and  graded  in  two  citieb,  each  of  aboi 
the  same  size,  one  in  England  and  the  other  in  this  coi| 
try,  will  serve  to  disclose  the  lines  of  similarity  and  divi 

>  The  appended  table,  oompQed  from  a  varied  of  soaraea,  showi  I 
ratio  of  the  poUoe  eatablishment  to  the  total  urbar.  population  in  waatd, 
the  largw  European  and  American  oiaea :  — 


CWT 

P0Pin.ATIO> 

Total  NvMan  ov 
PoucB  Ovrioias 

NmonoF  Pouea  « 
10,000  Toroumam^ 

Beriin 

Paris 

London  (metropolitan) 

Olaagov 

New  York    .... 

Chicago 

Philadelphia      .    .    . 
Boston 

2,070,695 
2,846,986 
7,231,701 

784,496 
4,766,833 
2.185,283 
1,549,006 

670,585 

7.914 
7,890 

20,540 
2,020 

10,383 
4,251 
3,565 
1,561 

38 

28           ^ 

36           - 

34 

21           1 

1» 

23 

23 

'  See  also  below,  pp.  299.  307-308. 


POUCB  ADMINI8TRATI0N 


gence.    Liverpool  and  Boston  may  be  taken  for  this  eom- 
parison. 

With  a  popuUtion  of  about  three  quartera  of  a  million, 
Liverpool  has  a  police  establishment  of  2160  officers  and    --^— 
men.    The  general  charge  of  the  department  is  in  the  SI^SpK 
hands  of  the  Watch  Committee  of  the  municipal  council 
(subject  in  some  degree  to  the  supervision  of  the  council 
itself),  but  the  immediate  control  and  rumagement  are 
vested  in  a  chief  constable,  who  is  assisteu  by  two  deputy 
chief  constables,  all  three  appointed  by  the  Watch  Com- 
mittee.   For  police  duties  the  city  is  mapped  out  into  seven 
divisions,  each  in  charge  of  a  superintendent  who,  as  a  rule, 
has  beeu  promoted  from  the  ranks.    These  divisions,  again, 
have  their  subdivisions,  each  with  a  station  in  charge  of  an 
inspector,  who  likewise  has  been  promotea  from  below. 
The  detachment  allotted  to  each  station  is  made  up  of 
sergeants  and  police  constables.    Apart  from  th      Ifferenoes 
in  nomenclature  the  system  is  not  very  unlike  that  main- 
tained in  cities  of  the  United  States.    The  annual  cost  of 
the  police  department  in  Liverpool  is  about  $1,200,000,  or 
roughly  J1.60  per  capita  of  population. 

In  Boston  there  is  a  police  commissioner,  appointed  by  the 
governor  of  Massachusetts  for  a  five-year  term.    He  is  »<**«»• 
assisted  by  a  headquarters  staflf  consisting  of  a  superintend- 
ent, who  is  ordinarily  selected  by  the  commissioner  from 
among  the  higher  subordinate  officers,  and  two  deputy- 
superintendents  similarly  chosen.    For  police  purposes  the 
city  is  divided  into  ei^teen  districts  or  precincts  which 
vary  considerably  in  sise,  the  down-town  districts  being  Thepi^ 
smaUer  of  course  than  those  of  suburban  areas.    Each  pre-  "^**' 
cmct  has  its  local  headquarters  or  station,  which  contains 
an  office,  quarters  for  officers  on  reserve,  and  places  of 
detention  for  prisoners.    Eadx  station  is  in  charge  of  a  cap- 
tain, v.ho  is  solely  responsible  for  its  entire  management,  as 
weU  as  for  the  general  efficiency  of  the  police  service  in  his 
precmct.    He  is  on  duty  throughout  the  day  hours;   he 


TlMflop- 


TlMliW- 
tMMBto. 


illl 


Theter- 


284     PRINCIPLIS  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


assigns  the  patrolmen  to  their  various  routes  or  to  sp«| 
work,  and  reports  daily  to  the  police  superintendent  at  hei 
quarters.  Tlie  captains  are  officers  who  have  been  p 
moted  from  the  ranks;  their  work  is  of  great  importan 
requiring  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  neighboiiiQ 
together  with  marked  qualities  of  decision  and  prudence 

Every  station  has  also  two  lieutenants,  who  take  t 
captain's  place,  with  his  powers  and  responsibility,  duri 
the  night  hours,  each  of  them  having  a  seven  hours'  tous 
duty  in  the  space  between  six  o'clock  in  the  evening  m 
eight  the  next  morning.  The  lieutenants,  like  the  captaii 
are  men  who  have  been  promoted  from  below.  In  soi 
cities  there  is  no  lieutenant's  rank,  the  captain's  nig^t  wo 
being  done  by  desk  sei^eants.  The  police  stations,  ream 
ber,  must  be  always  open  for  business;  some  of  thg 
have  never  had  their  front  doors  locked,  day  or  ni^t,  f 
over  fifty  years.  In  addition  to  the  more  active  labor  the 
is  also  a  great  deal  of  clerical  work  to  be  done  by  both  eai, 
tains  and  lieutenants  while  on  station  duty.  They  ha^ 
charge  of  the  "blotter"  (which  may  be  called  the  "loi 
book  of  the  station,"  for  it  contains  record  of  eveiythii 
that  takes  place),  the  arrest-book,  and  other  papers,  bi 
sides  supervising  all  the  reports  to  headquarters.  Sue 
reports  are  ordinarily  prepared  by  the  station  clerk.        I 

Next  there  is  the  rank  of  sergeant.  Every  Boston  pr< 
cinct  has  from  four  to  eight  sergeants,  but  the  proper  pla( 
for  this  office^*,  when  on  duty,  is  chiefly  in  the  streets  of  hi 
precinct,  not  in  the  station.  The  sergeants  inspect  t| 
platoons  before  they  go  on  duty ;  they  accompany  the  varion 
squads  on  their  way  to  relieve  patrolmen  coming  off  duty 
and  they  have  the  exceedingly  important  ftmction  of  visitin 
all  patrolmen  on  their  routes  or  posts  at  least  once  in  eve)§ 
tour  of  patrolman's  duty.  In  the  temporary  absence  of  esf 
tain  or  lieutenant  the  senior  sergeant  takes  charge  of  the  sta 
lion.    The  sergeants  are  invariably  promoted  from  the  rankj 

Then  come  the  patrolmen,  who  form  the  backbone  of  0 


FQUd  ADlONUrRATION 

fOTce,  — the  men  who  do  the  Mtiud  woric  of  poUeing  tiie 
Btweta.    Each  one  hat  hie  Miigned  patrol  or  route  and  hie 
stated  houre  for  covering  it.    The  route  ia  fixed  by  the 
captain  of  hia  station ;  it  will  be  long  or  short  according  to 
the  nature  of  the  neighborhood  to  be  patroUed.    Hia  dutiee 
on  patrol,  aa  set  forth  in  the  city'a  book  on  police  rulee,  ara 
multifarioua.    He  ia  instructed  to  prevoit  crimes  or  misde- 
meanors, to  make  arrests  when  necessary,  to  furnish  reason- 
able information  when  aaked  by  strangers,  to  report  all 
accidents,  to  keep  traflic  in  order,  to  see  that  aU  doors  are 
properly  secured  at  night,  to  watch  suspicious  places  and 
persons,  and  to  do  a  doien  other  things  of  divers  kinds,  — 
all  of  it  work  of  an  exacting  character,  demanding  courage, 
intelligence,  courtesy,  honesty,  and  endless  patience.    The 
patrolman  must  be  able  to  act  firmly  in  an  emergency  or 
cautiously  in  dubious  dtuationa.    In  the  daily  walks  of  hum- 
ble life  he  is  the  court  of  first  instance.    Hia  word  ia  law  in  a 
legion  of  trivial  questions;    in  these  things  his  common 
sense  spells  justice  and  hia  good  temper  will  smooth  out 
difficulties  where  nothing  else  would.    The  work  of  an  eflB- 
cient  patrohnan  presumes  a  pUne  of  physical  robustness, 
mental  alertness,  and  moral  character  which  is  far  above 
that  possessed  by  the  average  urban  dtisen. 

When  a  patrolman  is  first  appointed  he  must  usually  serve 
for  a  probationary  period  before  he  becomes  a  fixture  on  the  tv 
force.  During  this  interval,  which  ia  ordinarily  six  months 
or  more,  the  "reserveman,"  as  he  is  caUed,  first  receives 
regular  instruction  in  poUce  duties,  —  some  cities,  as  wiU  be 
explamed  later,  maintain  a  regular  school  for  this  purpose,  — 
and  then  is  taken  out  for  preliminary  street  duty  with  a  sei^ 
geant  or  a  regular  patrohnan.  When  vacancies  occur,  the 
reservemen  are  promoted  as  they  show  fitness.  PVequently 
these  young  patrohnen  are  first  used  as  traffic  officen  at 
crossings  which  are  not  difficult.  That  experience  gives 
them  alertness  and  prevents  the  too  early  development  of 
lounging  habits. 


hmmUo- 

tiOBOf 

IMttialiBen. 


dill 


I* 


286     PRINCIPLES  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

cnriL  BXsviGK  nv  m  poucb  DBPAxnaofT 

The  efficiency  of  a  police  force  dependa  in  Urge  mean 
upon  the  character  of  ita  patrolmen.  No  matter  h 
excellent  the  orgaiiiation  or  how  competent  the  officen,  ni 
things  will  count  for  little  if  ^e  men  who  actually  do  the  wc 
of  patrolling  are  incompetent  or  corrupt.  The  method 
selecting  the  patrolmen  is,  accordingly,  a  matter  of  gn 
importance.  There  was  a  day  when  policemen  everywhi 
owed  their  appointmont  to  the  influence  of  ward  politieiai 
but  naturally  a  force  recruited  in  this  way  could  never  do : 
work  properly  or  develop  a  professional  spirit.  This  mods 
selection  has,  indeed,  been  the  prime  source  of  most  of  t 
trouble  with  police  departments  in  the  cities  of  the  Unit 
States.  ToKiay,  however,  in  neariy  all  the  larger  cities  ai 
OvU^Mnrio.  in  n^gny  smaller  ones  as  well,  the  choice  of  patrolmen 
made  under  civil-service  rules.*  Althouf^  the  detailed  a 
ministration  of  these  rules  is  of  course  not  alike  in  all  placi 
ordinarily  the  same  general  tests  are  applied.  In  Bosto 
where  the  policy  has  been  pursued  since  1886,  tiie  ezamin 
tion  is  threefold.  First  there  is  a  rigid  physical  test;  tht 
comes  a  written  test  of  intelligence  and  ordinary  ment 
capacity;  and  along  with  these  there  is  an  investigatic 
into  the  candidate's  past  record.*  The  examination  ovc 
the  state  civil-service  commission,  under  whose  auq»ci 
the  tests  are  applied,  certifies  to  the  police  commissiont 
the  names  that  are  highest  on  its  list,  sending  him  m 
eral  more  names  than  there  are  places  to  be  filled.  Fm 
these  lists  the  final  choice  is  made  by  the  commissioner  i 
person,  after  an  interview  with  each  of  the  men  certified  1 
him. 


1.  In 
Boiton. 


>  The  exceptions  include  many  oitiet  in  the  Middle  West  and  Sooti 
west.  In  St.  Louis  there  is  a  sort  of  oivil-servioe  system  within  the  poHi 
department,  but  it  has  no  legal  sanation  and  its  provisions  may  be  amdi 
at  any  time. 

'  For  a  description  of  the  various  tests,  with  speoimra  vuptn,  « 
Massachusetts  Civil  Service  Commission.  Annwd  Report,  1909,  VP-  3061 


Mliwwto 


TOUCM  ADMrnUTRATION  fgf 

In  New  York  City  the  teett  are  eondueted  under  the  dirao- 
(ion  of  the  munidpal  oivii-Mrvice  commiaiion,  the  member*  a.  i»k  »» 
of  which  are  appointed  by  the  mayor.  TTie  examination*  ^"* 
an  both  phynoal  and  mental,  and  no  one  ia  eligible  for  ap- 
pointment unleaa  he  has  paMed  the  former  satiifaetorily 
and  made  at  least  76  per  cent  on  the  latter.  An  applicant 
muBt  also  preMnt  vouehera  as  to  character  from  several 
responsible  dtiaena. 

It  has  often  been  uifed  that  no  formal  teats  will  disclose 
the  qualities  which  are  of  moat  importance  in  a  police  ^ 
Courage,  presence  of  mind  in  an  emergency,  and  i 
honesty,  it  is  contended,  are  quite  as  indisp<msable  t 
sturdy  frame  or  ability  to  write  a  good  letter;  and  ye 
formal  examination  can  tell  you  whether  an  applicai 
a  patrolman's  position  would  show  courage  when  ne^ 
or  prove  incorruptible  when  put  in  the  way  of  tempta      i 
This  is  all  very  true:  the  civil-service  system  does  not    -». 
vide  a  sure  means  of  getting  the  best  men,  but  it  does  ftu    dh 
a  tolerably  certain  method  of  avoiding  the  wo«t.     Fhe 
applicant  who  haa  a  dean  record  in  private  employ  *jeat, 
whose  physique,  after  a  rigid  examination,  reveals  no    r  t^ 
of  dissipation,  and  whose  answers  to  questions  show  'iam  m 
be  alert  and  intelligent  can  reasonably  be  depended  m^^m  fm 
at  least  average  grit  and  honesty.    Compare  him,  f     exam^ 
pie,  with  the  appUoant  whose  proved  quaUficatioas  (wher» 
there  is  no  dvil-service  test)  consist  soldy  of  a  good  word 
from  some  poUtician.    Is  then  any  reason  to  suppose  that 
tiie  Utter  will  prove  more  tactful,  more  courageous,  or  morr 
honest?    Quite  the  contrary.    He  will  probably  be  just  as 
deficient  in  these  things  as  in  phyrical  vigor,  intelligence, 
and  a  dean  record.    The  spoils  system,  when  appUed  to  the 
selection  of  patrolmen,  provides  a  dependable  way  to  get 
inferior  men.    The  best  testimony  in  favor  of  dvil-service 
methods  for  the  sdection  of  patrolmen  is  that  which  comes 
from  the  higher  authorities  themsdves. 


iaiafpa- 


Uttiiui 


ruk. 


288     PSIN01PLI8  Of  MUNICIFAL  ADMINIVnunOM   j 
KHJOB  TRAHflNa  lOBCXUA 

Then  there  it  the  nutter  of  trftining  *  reservenum  or  i 
trolman  after  he  hae  beoi  appointed.  Although  Ameii 
cities  have  nuwle  some  progree*  in  that  direction  during 
laet  doien  years,  it  ia  nevertheleM  in  this  Add  of  police  adi 
istration  that  thqr  have  still  tiie  most  to  leam  from  Ehul 
In  all  the  largw  dtiea  of  France,  Germany,  Austria,  It 
ai. '  Great  Britain  there  have  for  many  years  been  rcf 
schools  for  training  patrolmoi.  Although  of  course  dil 
ing  considerably  as  to  methods,  equipmmt,  and  leogti 
iiMtntction,  each  of  these  schools  gives  the  recruit  pract 
training  for  the  work  which  he  will  later  have  to  peril 
The  police  school  at  Vienna,  which  possesses  its  own  bil 
ings,  with  classrooms,  dormitories,  library,  and  gymnasi 
is  said  to  be  the  best.  It  has  an  average  of  three  hundred] 
fifty  patrolmen-in-training,  and  the  course  extends  ovetj 
entire  year,  the  theoretical  studies  and  practical  exnl 
covering  a  wide  range.  In  Beriin,  on  the  other  hand,! 
term  is  for  five  weeks  only,  and  no  special  building  is  i 
as  headquarters ;  aiUat  a  week  or  so  at  the  central  po 
presidency  the  recruits  are  posted  about  at  the  varj 
stations  for  instruction.  In  Paris  the  period  of  traini^ 
fotir  weeks,  and  the  recruit  attends  only  on  certain  da]n| 
each  week,  spending  the  i-est  of  the  time  in  regular  dutisi 
a  gardien  de  la  paix.  A  part  of  the  building  used  as  po 
headquarters  is  set  aside  for  classroom  work,  but  the  eqi 
ment  is  not  so  good  as  in  Vienna  or  London.  The  Loai 
training  school  is  at  Peel  House,  a  building  designed  i 
erected  for  this  purpose  about  eight  years  ago,  with  acconn 
dations  (including  sleeping  quarters)  for  over  two  hund 
men,  and  an  equipment  which  is  modwn  in  every  respi 
the  training,  which  consists  of  lectures,  physical  ezercl 
and  practical  work,  covers  eight  weeks.  Sniall«r  cities  U 
in  England  and  on  the  continent  have  systems  of  prelimin 
training,  but  th^  are  not  so  well  organised,  in  mort  o| 


POUOB  ADMINHTIUTION  2m 

the  ioftnietioii  bfling  mmtiBtted  at  intomOs  after  a  patrol. 
maahMfoneonrefularduty.  De^te the lomeirhat brief 
tnumng  perioda  in  aU  European  dtiee  eseept  Vienna  and 
Rome,  the  inntruotion  it  effeetive  to  a  remarlcable  decree 
aod  greatly  benefite  the  men  who  reoeiye  it.* 

The  need  of  regular  inatruction  during  a  patrolman'e 
probationaiy  period  ia  eoming  to  be  appiedated  in  the  t^^*-. 
larger  American  dtiea,  neariy  aU  of  which  have  now  come  SSSS: 

programme  of  training  that  inchideeleetuwi  on  poBoedutiea  »^^^-^ 
with  practical  exerdeea.    New  Yoric  Qty  mainidn.  a  regu- 
larachoolthatapprodmateel-    'n  dementaiy  way  the  kiw 
rangemente  of  iome  European        j.    Thie  training  cchool 
wa.  not  put  on  a  qrateu  ^  until  1913,  when  an  in-  N«r  yiu 

•pector  and  two  captaina     • «  detailed  to  take  charge  of  it 
permanently.    In  addition  several  lieutenanta  and  patrol- 
men are  now  attached  to  the  ataif,  but  thcM  lieutenante  are 
•hifted  from  time  to  time.    The  coune,  which  covem  ap- 
proximately  six  wedce,  with  about  mx  hours  of  inatruction 
and  practice  per  day,  indudea  miUtaiy  drill,  the  um>  of  weap- 
on.,  first  aid  to  the  injured,  legal  rules  and  procedure,  poUce 
duties,  reporte  and  so  forth,  a  liat  of  thirty  topics  toall. 
Since  about  fifty  new  patrohnen  are  taken  upon  the  New 
York  force  eadi  month,  a  faii^ised  dass  of  recruits  is  always 
m  attendance  at  the  training  sdiool.    The  instruction  is  by 
lecturea,  reading,  drills,  and  frequent  written  tests.'    Com- 
pared with  European  institutions  of  the  same  sort,  this  school 
w  aa  yet  a  rather  dementaiy  affair;   but  it  is  certainly  an 
improvement  over  the  older  American  method  of  leaving 
the  recruit  to  learn  his  duties  by  making  mistakes  and  bdng 

E^  *t  Z^T'    }^^^^  remembered,  howev«J 
that  the  tadc  of  the  American  dty  ia  more  difficult  than  that 


'  A  foO  aceount  of  tbaie  rv* 
gjpter  vioT  Raymond  IW'ck 

rfSrSS^"'*^  "^  ''*'««  ^Nw  lori.  1914)  i.  the  tm^book 


'<  Bnropeu  pdioe  nhoob  it  givm  in 
*   •  r^w  PoKm  89tlma  (New  Yorit, 


Police  pro- 
motions. 


Whet 

■hould 

oount. 


290     PRINCIPLES  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

of  the  average  city  abroad,  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  reoi 
who  secure  appointment  in  this  country,  even  under  c 
service  rules,  have  rarely  had  any  military  training  or  01 
subjection  to  strict  disciphne  such  as  would  constitute  a  ] 
tial  preparation  for  police  duties. 

THE  PBOBLEM  OP  POUCB  PROMOTIONS  AND  DISCIPLIN; 

Next  in  importance  to  proper  methods  of  selection  1 

preliminary  training  comes  the  matter  of  promotion. 

promotions  are  not  made  on  a  bans  of  merit  and  efficien 

the  work  of  policing  loses  its  appeal  to  the  best  class  of 

emits,  and  the  entire  morale  of  the  force  is  sure  to  be  adven 

affected.    Yet  a  "system  of  promotion,"  embahned  in  at 

iron  rules,  is  apt  to  result  in  more  harm  than  good.    Esti 

lished  rules  relating  to  promotion  are  liable  to  be  either  1 

mechanical  on  the  one  hand  or  too  indefinite  on  the  otl 

to  afford  a  guarantee  of  due  reward  for  meritorious  a 

vice.    In  the  cities  of  Europe,  and  particularly  in  Englai 

promotions  are  made  as  the  result  of  quahfying  examinatioi 

and  in  many  cities  of  the  United  States  a  similar  plan 

followed.    A  scheme  of  promotion  which   centres  abc 

any  reasonable  system  of  qualifying  examinations  is 

course  far  superior  to  any  method  of  promotion  bas 

on  mere  seniority  of  service,  or  on  the  whim  of  headquart© 

or  on  political  favoritism;    but  it  does  not  lay  adequa 

weight  on  considerations  of  judgment  and  temperamei 

qualities  which  in  a  captain  or  a  lieutenant  of  police  are  oft< 

quite  as  important  as  technical  knowledge.    Hence  it 

desirable  to  find  some  plan  which  will  supplement,  if  not  alt 

gether  displace,  the  examination  system  in  determinii 

promotions. 

Most  of  those  who  have  given  any  study  to  police  prol 
lems  are  agreed  that  promotion  in  the  city's  foroe  ought  1 
be  based  upon  a  man's  inteUigence  and  general  capadt 
as  shown  by  his  actual  record ;    but  the  actual  records  < 


POLICB  ADMINISTRATION 


291 


tISCIPLINE 


any  two  men  during  their  years  of  poKce  service  are  difficult 
to  weigh  in  accordance  with  hard-and-fast  rules.    Some 
policemen  have  records  that  are  plainly  defective,  others 
have  absolutely  clean  slates.    Both  cases  are  exceptional, 
however;  the  difficulty  comes  with  regard  to  the  many  who 
have  neither  the  one  record  nor  the  other.    Account  may  be 
kept  of  the  number  of  arrests  made  by  a  policeman,  and  of 
the  instances  in  which  his  bravery  or  his  efficiency  has  been 
commended.    On  the  other  side  of  the  ledger  a  record  may  be 
made  of  complaints  recorded  against  him,  of  reprimands,  and 
so  forth.    But  of  themselves  all  these  things  prove  nothing 
definitely.    Many  opportunities  to  make  arrests  or  to  show 
courage  may  come  to  a  patrolman  because  of  the  post  to 
which  he  is  assigned  (at  a  raUway  terminal  or  a  wharf,  for 
example),  whereas  no  such  occasions  may  present  themselves 
to  an  officer  who  patrols  a  peace-abiding  suburb.*    Some 
policemen,  again,  have  to  fill  difficult  assignments  that  re- 
quire  eternal  patience  on  their  part  and  yet  subject  them  to 
inevitable  complaints;    others  have  much  more  favorable 
posts  or  routes.    On  all  such  matters  the  evidence  of  the 
station  books  is  only  presumptive  and  never  conclusive. 
The  most  indolent  patrohnan,  one  who  shirks  the  greater 
part  of  his  duties,  may  on  that  veiy  account  be  popular  along 
his  route  and  hence  have  a  record  free  from  complaints. 

Various  schemes  for  keeping  efficiency  records  have  been 
devised,  one  of  the  best  being  that  set  forth  by  Dr.  Fuld  Effi«i«<«y 
as  the  result  of  his  experience  as  an  examiner  for  the  civil-  S^^SS.. 
service  commission  of  New  York  C3ity.»    In  the  minds  of 

m»^  Vn  7«^®  ^I'^7  •™^-    Doe*  thi.  prove  that  the  avence  polio*. 

town  distnct  than  in  a  resdential  tuborbr  ^^  «™w- maaown^ 

vteti^I  *^^  elaborate  plan  of  merita  and  demerita  given  for  amrte.  ooa- 
^^i^Y^i  ''^^•"'''Sr  r  •  ••«  hi.  book  on  Pat^JlZi 
"FwL   *T  .  "iiL®^°^'  P-  *®5   ■•*>.  'o'  greater  detail,  hia  paper  on 


II 

I! 


If 


292     PMNCIPLBS  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINKTIUTION   ] 

poKce  commiasionere,  however,  and  of  those  who  havj 

actual  responsibility  for  police  efficiency,   these  rem 

teU  only  a  part  of  the  story.    To  make  them  worth  ii 

the  personal  equation  must  enter.    The  captain  of  a  | 

cinct  can  better  than  any  one  else  tell  which  of  his  patrok 

deserve  promotion;  yet  the  detennination  of  such  matt 

cannot  be  left  entirely  to  captains,  for,  being  human,  t] 

have  their  partiahties  and  their  prejudices,  and  at  tii 

may  not  be  above  playing  poUtics.    What,  then,  is  the  b 

practical  plan  ?    There  is  no  categorical  answer  to  this  qi 

tion.    It  depends  upon  the  conditions  that  already  ea 

in  a  police  force,  upon  the  public  attitude  towards  it,  i 

upon  the  caliber  of  the  commissioner  who  is,  or  is  likely  to- 

at  the  head  of  it.    If  a  police  department  is  already  hoi« 

combed  with  politics  and  has  a  political  appointee  in  co 

mand,  it  is  futile  to  leave  the  matter  of  promotion  to  1 

unfettered  discretion  of  either  the  commissioner  or  his  del 

ties;  for  they  wiU  not  be  fair  to  the  men.    Under  m 

conditions  a  system  of  promotion  on  a  basis  of  earefii 

devised  efficiency  records,  however  faulty  it  may  be,  is  ^ 

tainly  preferable.    But  when  poUtics  have  been  efifectiv* 

weeded  out  of  the  poKce  department,  when  the  captains  | 

altogether  or  nearly  free  from  poUtical  ambitions  or  pressm 

when  the  commissioner  is  a  man  of  independence,  holcli 

lus  post  securely,  —  in  such  cases  a  merit  system  of  pnri 

tion  based  on  any  scheme  of  efficiency  records  is  apt  to  w^ 

less  successfuUy  than  one  of  general  qualifying  ezaminatioi 

supplemented  by  the  commissioner's  discretion.    It  mu 

always  be  remembered  that  the  chief  aim  of  the  merit  syste 

of  promotions  is  to  "knock  favoritism  and  dishonesty  out| 

the  pubUc  service." »    If  these  things  have  already  bf| 

knocked  out,  the  main  task  of  the  system  is  already  aeo«| 

plished.    The  whole  problem  is  still  a  difficult  one,  which  eM 

city  must  solve  in  the  Ught  of  its  own  conditions  and  need 

Munkripd  I*Nm  1909,  p.  17&  « /-rocMBM.^  of  id.  «»n«| 


POLICI  ADMINISTRATION 

The  rules  concerning  poUce  diBcipline  are  always  strict. 
Members  of  the  force  may  be  brought  to  account  fofany  one  P^di. 
of  many  offences,  senous  or  minor.    The  most  common  aUe-  '^^'^ 
gations  are  neglect  of  duty  and  conduct  unbecoming  an  offi- 
cer,  either  of  which  mcludes  a  multitude  of  sinsT^  a  rule 
charg^  agaii^  any  member  of  the  police  force  must  be  made 
in  wntmg.    If  they  are  of  a  serious  nature,  a  hearing  is  usu- 
aUygiveneither by  thecommissionerorby  a  trial  board  miZl 
by  him;  m  the  ^tter  case  the  board  makes  its  report  to  the 
commismoner.    Penalties  may  take  the  form  of  Cs,  depri! 
vation  of  pay,  extra  duty,  suspension,  or  even  dismissal.    In 
most  cities  the  disciplinary  action  of  the  hi^poUce 
authonties  is  fimd  and  will  not,  save  in  very  ScepS 

Z;  T'^v  ^J  *^*  *'°'^'  *>"*  ^  Bome  places,  paS 
darly  m  New  York,  the  courts  are  permitted  to  sit  asidt 

ulnr  ffi""""*"  r"?^  ^^  *^«  commissioner  or  oX 
supenor  officer.  The  frequent  reinstatement  of  dismissed 
patrohnen  by  court  order  has  done  much  to  demoS^ 
pohce  system  of  New  York  Qty.*    It  is  of  cour^ond 

irj:.*''*  ^  "^"*^  °^  »  ^^-  departmrSio^  S^ 
protected  agamst  arbitrary  and  unjuJt  penalties.  T^ 
P^tection  may  be  afforded,  howev^,  by  Vhe  pnictice  rf 
giving  eveiy  accused  member  a  trial  before  a  boani  of  ZZ 
captains^and  allowing  him  to  be  represented  by  ^^ tom^ 

to  bnng  a  break-down  of  pohce  discipUne. 

of  nZ t!''°^ '^^ ^"^"^ ^"^"^ ^^« «"»b«»hed system, 
of  pohce  pensions,  -a  right  and  proper  general  p^on 

the  STrJkJZI!^:^  **»  *»  1W2.  i^^iiiv*.  172  member,  of 

"*logoT.SZ     Thai^J^  ^.iS****.  ««»  »>y  the  court,  fa 

•t»tement  wen  ftbc^ed  ^^^^^^^  «im  nght  ct  judidal  nfa. 
"WnJed  by  men^SKl?hlJkS'i^^^°  oT  the  w^  in  whioh  it  i. 
Om  need  or^T^^^^^^^^iT'  "^^  «*"»«««»• 
<rf  the  exiiS^iSiiif"  to  pw,id««vld.o„  wnomia,  the  .bmnlity 


FbUoe 


294     PRINCIPLES  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

for  retiring  a  police  officer  whenever  he  becomes  pa 
incapacitated  by  reason  of  age,  and  this  without  doing  1 
injustice.  American  cities  have  different  rules  as  to 
minimum  length  of  service  required  before  any  membei 
the  police  department  becomes  eligible  for  the  pension  Ij 
but  the  usual  age  of  retirement  is  sixty  years  if  a  po 
officer  has  had  at  least  twenty  years'  service,  or  sixty-: 
yf  irs  in  any  case.  The  pension  ordinarily  amounts  to  h 
pay.  Provision  is  also,  as  a  rule,  made  for  annuities 
widows  and  minor  children  of  officers  who  lose  their  li 
in  the  performance  of  police  duties.  All  European  cii 
have  poUce  pension  systems,  usually  on  a  more  liberal  bi 
than  those  which  have  been  established  in  this  country. 
Paris  the  pension  is  full  pay  after  twenty-five  years  of  i 
vice  (including  prior  service  in  the  army) ;  in  London  ) 
Berlin  the  allowances  are  not  so  generous.  In  lai^r  Am 
can  cities  the  police  departments  also  maintain  some  i 
of  benefit  or  rdief  fund  which  is  intended  to  provide  sue 
for  policemen  and  their  families  in  case  of  illness.  1 
fund  is  nourished  in  part  by  contributions  from  the  poll 
men  themselves,  but  considerable  amoimts  are  obtaii 
each  year  by  a  general  levy  upon  the  public  under  the  gi 
of  a  ticket  sale  for  a  policemen's  ball,  picnic,  or  other  fa 
tion.  The  custody  of  the  money  is  in  the  hands  of  the  n 
themselves,  subject  in  some  cases  to  official  supervision. 


WhyspU- 
toon  lystein 
ianecea- 
niy. 


THE  PLATOON  STflTEMS 

A  perplexing  problem  which,  owing  to  political  conside 
tions,  has  not  always  been  solved  in  an  economical  wi 
is  presented  by  the  question  as  to  how  many  hours  a  pati 
man  should  spend  on  duty.  Since  police  duties  go  on,  wi 
out  intermission,  day  and  ni^t,  the  patrolmen  attadt 
to  a  station  must  be  divided  into  shifts  or  platoons,  a 

>  TaUei  riiowint  the  ntlea  in  tant  throughont  ths  Ualttd  Stetu 
printad  in  Report  cf  tha  MauaekuttUa  CvmnnuUn  on  PmuAgmt,  If 
eBpedaHy  pp.  288-311. 


POUCB  ADMINI8TIUTION 


206 


the  nature  of  these  divisions  must  depend  upon  the  number 
of  patrohnen  avaUable,  the  work  to  be  done,  and  the  hours 
both  of  active  and  of  reserve  duty  which  may  le  assigned 
to  each  man.    In  the  actual  adjustment  of  time  andmen 
however,   various  considerations  have  to  be  taken  into  H<»«of 
account     In  some  poUce  precincts  more  patrohnen  are  fe^ 
needed  for  day  duty  than  for  night  duty,  number  of  them 
being  posted  durmg  the  daytime  in  pubhc  buildings,  at  con- 
gested crossings,  or  on  crowded  streets.    But  in  aU  the  resi- 

1'^  ^l^  '"Jk""^*;  P"""^'*"  *^*  requirement  is  usuaUy  re- 
ver^ .  there  the  night  patrols  are  shorter  than  those  covered 
by  day,  the  patrohnen  are  left  on  duty  for  shorter  periods. 
and  hence  more  of  them  are  needed.    Taking  the  city  as  a 
whole,  more  men  are  ordinarily  on  active  duty  in  the  night 
hours.    In  the  second  place,  it  is  desirable  to  have  a  sq^ 
of  men  m  reserve  at  every  station  aU  the  time  in  case  of 
emergency;   and,  finaUy,  no  patrohnan  should   have  too 
many  hours  of  continuous  duty  either  by  day  or  by  night. 
To  secure  aU   these   things   a   division   into    4it<K)ns 
«  necessary     Most  American  cities  (including  practically  Two 
all  the  smaUer  ones)  have  the  two-pUtoon^tem,  an  a^  •^*°' 
rangement  by  which  a  quarter  of  the  force  is  on  duty  by 
day  a  half  by  mght,  and  a  quarter  in  reserve  at  all  t4es 
Under  this  plan  a  patrohnan  gets  restively  Uttle  time  to 

and  forty-four  hours  each  patrolman  must  do  one  hundred 
and  eight  hours  of  service,  including  both  patrol  and  re- 
serve  work.    In  many  cities,  therefore,  the  policemen  have 
pemiaded  the  authorities  to  estabhsh  the  three-pUtoon  ""«• 
ml'";.   By  this  method  no  patrohnan  is  requh^i  d^d  ""^ 
more  than  eight  continuous  hours  out  of  any  twenty-four 
n  street  duty;  one  third  of  the  force  is  always  onplZ 
day  and  mght  and  one  ninth  is  held  at  aU  timrin  Zr^e. 
ihe  three-platoon  system  leaves  five  ninths  of  the  entire 

CUc?J'"*JSt*?*r-    'nusi.theplanu.eii;B<^' 
C'lacago,  and  St.  Louis,  «id  it  is  regarded  a,  satisf^rtor^ 


FIt* 


296     PRIN0IPLB8  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTIUTION  I 

Objections  have  been  urged  against  the  thre&-platoon| 
tern,  however,  on  the  ground  that  it  puts  too  many  me^ 
duty  by  day  and  too  few  by  night,  besides  providing  Ud 
small  a  reserve  allowance.  New  York  City  for  a  j 
maintained  a  five-platoon  system  devised  by  Comnusii 
Bingham.  This  plan,  which  is  very  complicated  an<| 
hardly  be  explained  in  short  form,  arranged  for  extra  pa1 
men  on  the  night  shifts,  provided  an  adequate  reserve,  i 
no  patrolman  more  than  six  consecutive  hours  on  duty^ 
never  fewer  than  twelve  hours  o£F  duty,  and  assured  to  ei 
man  one  whole  day  off  in  five.  It  was  of  course  a  far  g 
expensive  arrangement  than  the  others,  since  it  reqi| 
a  great  many  more  men  for  the  same  amount  of  duty.  \ 
system,  however,  was  subsequently  discontinued  becaui 
a  new  statutoiy  enactment.  The  three-platoon  plai 
now  used  in  New  York. 
These  various  platoon  systems  have  been  briefly  e:q»lal 
n^tom  because  the  question  as  to  what  hours  a  policeman  she 
eitypdities.  have  off  duty  has  been  dragged  into  the  municipal  poU 
of  more  than  one  large  city  as  an  important  issue.  ] 
members  of  the  police  department,  together  with  their  ij 
tives  and  friends,  make  up  a  factor  of  considerable  wei 
in  city  elections.  like  all  other  public  and  private  j| 
ployees,  they  desire  more  favorable  hours  of  labor,  i 
usually  do  not  hesitate  to  seise  what  appears  to  be  the  ri^ 
psychological  moment  for  pressing  thdr  claims.  It  im 
ways  plausible  to  urge  that  a  patrolman  can  do  more  < 
cient  work  if  he  has  less  of  it  to  do,  a  doctrine  that  wit 
certain  limits  is  doubtiess  sound.  The  policeman's  worl 
of  such  a  special  character  that  no  one  who  has  not  served 
the  force  can  determine  just  when  the  point  of  «<i>»»inMl| 
returns  arrives. 

POUCB  EXFBNDirnBBS  1 

The  annual  cost  of  maintaining  a  police  department,! 
eluding  the  pay  of  officers  and  patrolmen,  the  upkeep 


3 

n 


POUOI  ADMINISTRATION 


397 


sUtions  and  equipment,  and  the  contributions  to  the  nen-  ti— ^ 
Bon  fund  amount,  to  a  vety  la,»e  «un  in  ev^J^t  ST  ^^ 
la  New  York  it  i.  nearly  eighteen  million  doZ!Z  yZ'  ""^"^ 
figures  greatly  in  exoew  of  the  outlay  in  LondoT^rr^f  ' 
force  is  about  twice  a.  U,^,  -  .  di^^^^St t^^ 
accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  much  hujer  IX  aS^d 
to  membeiB  of  the  police  force  in  ^cc^  ^^t 
different  American  cities,  la^^e  and^lSe  ^ 

rebtion  of  pohce  expenses  to  the  total  budget,  also  ii  doUo^ 

::^l^VaSed1  ^^"^^^^^  "^  ^  *^-^  ^  -  S 

Why  are  there  such  wide  differences  in  the  relative  ez 

capita  or  per  acre  outky  in  thfbranch  ^^m^^tiST 
Somethmgdepends,  again,  on  the  character  ofSS     Ite 

Svf:  ^k?^?^«"^^-^*"P<>P'^tion,  whe^^^^ 
nat  ve  or  chiefly  foreignrbom,  the  number  and  chanust«r  nf 

Z^Z'^:  "^  2'  «<»--«-nsing  Xtr  H  h« 
adopted,  the  nature  and  extent  of  adjacent  towns,  -  thew 


Oat 


1.  New  Y«k 

2.  BoBton  .    . 

3.  Detroit .    . 
4- 8aD  Frudaoo 
5.  New  Orieuu 
••Seattle  .    . 
7-  BinniBgiuun    . 

SWiliniiigton,  Del 
9.  WehJta . 

10.  Raoine  . 


5.186,888 

722,465 

520,688 

440.905 

365.M8 

205,226 

158,200 

90,068 

02,007 

48,6«0 


ToKu,  Fouea 
0<Ma(m« 


815,036.102   12.1% 


2,266.268 

1.118.011 

1,476.080 

892.550 

427.485 

150368 

101376 

53,611 

283SB 


TOTAI. 


Otmt 
Cahva 


Otrntn 


11.4 

11.0 

9.9 

83 

9.0 

123 

123 

9.4 

6.7 


82.80 
3.14 
2.16 
336 
1.10 
1.45 
1.01 
1.12 
036 
0.66 


881.08 
81;Q2 
4137 
4038 

8.13 
11.41 

5.17 
25.17 

436 

7.68 


The  pay  of 

police 

oSeen. 


298     PRINCIPLES  or  MUNICIPAL  ADMINUTIUTION    \ 

and  many  similar  f acton  have  an  influence  upon  the  probi 

of  efficient  policing  and  consequently  upon  the  annual  < 

of  providing  it.    Of  course  the  rate  of  pay  given  to  po 

officers,  the  quality  of  the  station  houses,  and  the  natun 

their  equipment  are  things  of  great  importance  in  detwn 

ing  the  sise  of  the  police  budget ;  and  there  is  a  wide  d^ 

ence  among  cities  in  the  matter  of  salaries,  personal  eqij 

ment,  signal  boxes,  patrol  vehicles,  ambulances,  and  soi 

Liberal  provisions  as  to  pensions  also  mean  increased  an4 

expenditure ;  in  fact,  pay  and  pennons  alone  may  constit 

about  nine  tenths  of  the  total  police  cost.    In  this,  as 

any  other  department,  civic  generosity  means  a  large  outl 

which  ouc^t  to  indicate  a  highly  efficient  establishnMI 

Unfortunately,  it  does  not  always  do  so.  \ 

The  largest  item  in  the  police  budget  is  pay.    Considerd 

variations  in  this  category  of  expenditure  appear  in  the  i 

counts  of  large  cities.    In  St.  Louis  the  mnyiTnum  paji 

patrohnen  is  $1080 ;  in  Philadelphia  it  is  $3  per  day,  or  %\i 

per  year,  with  an  allowance  of  $40  per  annum  for  unifom 

in  Chicago  it  is  11320,  in  Boston  and  New  York  Qty  I14C 

and  the  rates  given  to  higher  ranks  show  nearly  the  sij 

difference.    The  lowest  figures  for  any  American  <^ 

however,  are  more  than  double  the  hi^^est  salaries  paid? 

the  police  forces  of  foreign  cities.    The  Glasgow  constat 

recdves,  at  the  maximum,  about  $436  per  year,  the  Lomi 

metropolitan  constable  about  $440,  the  Berlin  8ehuUm4 

about  $500,  and  the  Paris  gardien  de  la  paix  about  $4S 

In  some  cases  the  figures  cannot  be  computed  exactty  b 

cause  there  are  various  allowances  included.     Unifori 

however,  are  in  all  European  cities  provided  free ;  in  Am| 

can  cities,  with  few  exceptions,  the  policeman  must  fui^ 

his  own  in  accordance  with  a  quality  and  pattern  p^ 

scribed  for  him  by  the  rules.    Notwithstanding  the  smalf 

salaries  paid,  the  work  which  some  foreign  cities,  partial 

larly  those  of  Germany,  intrust  to  their  policemen  is  o§ 

more  varied  character  than  that  commonly  ocpected  I 


POUOI  ADIONIREATION 


299 

American  patrolmen.  It  often  involvet  a  good  deal  of 
clencal  work,  and  hence  demands  on  the  whole  more 
venatihty  and  more  education  than  an  ordinarily  reauired 
in  this  countiy.  '    »mu*iw 

TOB  UMm  OF  FOUCS  FUNCHONB 

With  regard  to  this  lart  point,  it  may  be  weU  to  lay  Strew 
upon  the  fact  that  the  conception  of  police  functions  held 
by  Enghshmen  and  Americans  differs  widely  from  the 
view   prevalent    in    continental    countries.    The    Anjdo- 
Amencan  idea  u  that  the  duties  of  a  municipal  poKce  officer 
are  concerned  chiefly,  if  not  whoUy,  with  the  work  of  keeping 
the  peace.    His  functions  are  merely  repressive,  and  hence 
fall  withm  narrow  bounds.    In  the  countries  of  continental 
Europe,  on  the  contrary,  poUce  duties  extend  over  a  much 
wider  range     They  include  in  German  cities,  for  example. 
Ae  work  of  dvU  registration,  the  censorship  of  the  pi«« 
the  inspection  of  buildings,  the  control  of  societiee,  and  the 
regulation  of  amusements.    Their  work  is  preventive  as 
well  as  repres«ve.»    Much  of  the  preventive  work,  more- 
over,  18  of  a  technical  character,  involving  the  use  of  specially 
trained  officers.    The  buUdings-poKce  {Bmpdiw)  inOer. 
man  cities  are,  for  instance,  intrusted  with  the  duty  of  in- 
specting aU  buildings  in  process  of  construction.    They  do 
heir  work  with  admirable  care  and  thoroughness  because 
thqr  are  equipped  by  training  and  experience  for  this  special 
*ity  and  yet  they  form  an  integral  part  of  the  regular  pSce 
^tablxshment.    In  this  country  we  depute  suchZS 
to  building  inspectors,  who  are  not  connected  with  the 
police  department  at  all.    Althou,^  we  pay  these  build- 
mg  officials  a  much  higher  remunwation  than  we  give 
L^^K      /\°'  ^"^  ^  Heutenants  of  poUce,  -^  often 
tod  them  to  be  men  of  very  dubious  skill  and  im^   .uate 
expencnce.  a'»"«' 

ggj  F.  J.  Ooodnow.  IfimWjKrf  Oamnmma  (Neir  York,  1000).  pp.  3i6- 


Coarti- 


AiroptM 
•nd  Anglo. 
AnMrina 


ofpottM 


fiil 


800    PBINCIPLIS  Of  MUNICIPAL  ADiONIVnUTIQir 


iMMSt 

iMMMand 


WBT  BUBOPIAN  l»^**CB  ABB  MOn  Mmuum    \ 

It  hM  long  been  the  tMhion  of  writan  on  munidpal 
USSr*"  n"nwt»tion  to  ptm  faronble  eomment  on  the  effidi 
of  munidpal  polidng  abroad  and  to  oontnwt  this  aHud 
with  the  corrupt  demoralisation  which  haa  too  often,  unl 
pily,  worked  iti  way  into  the  dty  police  departments  of  1 
country.  There  is  no  gainsaying  the  fact  that  the  polic^ 
partments  of  the  average  English,  French,  and  German  4 
have  been  more  economically  conducted,  are  more  compej 
in  the  performance  of  their  duties,  and  more  free  from? 
taint  of  crookedness  than  those  of  American  cities  taken  i 
whole.  But  those  who  forever  harp  on  this  contrast  sh^ 
not  fail  to  remind  us,  in  all  fairness,  that  the  problem  of  I 
less  and  honest  police  administration  diffen  greatly  ml 
two  sides  of  the  ocean.  In  America  it  is  for  several  reaf 
one  of  extreme  difficulty.  Abroad  it  is  so  much  simpler  ti 
to  contrast  the  attainments  and  relative  costs  of  police  i 
ministration  in  Europe  and  America  is  entirely  unfair  unl 
large  allowances  are  noade  for  the  wide  difference  in  envig 
ment  and  conditions. 

Compare,  for  example,  the  problems  of  the  police  depi 
moit  of  Beriin  with  those  of  New  York.  InBeriinthepoj 
lation  is  almost  solidly  homogeneous,  with  sound  tnwfitil 
of  law-observance.*  It  is  a  population  in  which  practioi 
every  adult  male  dtisen  has  had  a  period  of  military  trd 
ing,  with  all  the  disdpline  in  self-masteiy  which  such  dii 
ing  implies.  Furthermore,  the  record  of  every  inhabit^ 
is  kept  80  systematically  that  the  police  can  instantly  lei 
his  antecedents  with  perfect  ease  and  can  put  their  hai 
upon  him  at  any  moment.  In  New  York,  on  the  other  hai 
the  population  is  composed  of  peoples  drawn  from  the  «i 

•Lew  thu  3  per  omt  of  the  popabtton  of  Beriin  b  of  aoihCtanB 
wtaiotion ;  UiM  thM  3  per  eent  of  the  popuUtion  of  Loadflo  fa  of  all 
Mrto;  m  Ptefa  the  foreign  dwnenteoMtltutee  only  6  p«««tflfft»€i 
In  New  Tork^  on  the  other  hand,  the  forelgn^hS^  iSelSS  ^Z 
of  the  popolatip  ^  inBortoiia6pereent,MdinC!U«»to86p«(^^ 


Mieein 

Oamuuiud 

American 


90UCm  ADICINIinUTION  801 

of  the  eurth,  With  OmAuUiy  no  uniforaity  of  tradition. 

jrerythinj  th^t  looks  like  netrftint  of  penonal  freedom. 

Here  we  five  iwlyglot  milUoM  Hving  under  legd  conditioM 
that  provMe  no  qr^em  of  poUee  reglrtration,  and  vmder  con- 
rtitutional  gu»i»nteee  that  protect  even  the  eiMpeoted 
malefactor  jigaiMt  inquiritorial  poUce  method..  Need 
more  be  Mid  to  mdicate  one  fundamental  differenoe  between 
the  problem,  of  the  poUce  department,  in  thewi  two  citie.? 
With  all  due  reqpeet  for  the  intelligenoe  and  integrity  of  the 

HT  ^"^  '*?!^'  ?"•  °*»y  be  pardoned  for  queetioninc 
whether  he  would  find  hi.  tadc  anything  like  w  ea.v  ifhe 

;rr5^?;t''*'^  who.  ^ «« «« «« ^.^^ 

In  the  Mcond  place,  the  problem,  of  poHoeadminirtiation 
m  a  Fnmch  or  a  German  eity  are  greatly  Amplified  by  the 
«la  ion  which  euet.  between  the  municipal  poBce  and  the 
n^Uryauthoritiee.  Continental  poHce  fj^are  recndSi 
whoUy  from  among  men  who  have  had  nme  miUtaiy 
raimng.  In  Germany,  for  imrtance,  no  one  i.  eli^ 
for  appomtment  a.  an  ordinary  SchutMmann  untU  K. 
served  a  twm  of  yearn  in  the  army.     TTie  joi^^ 

yZ'ZTitZ^.  »  nine  year.,  in  Dre«len  IS 
yean,  and  m  Stuttgart  five  year..  Hemurt  alw  have 
rmn  to  the  rank  of  a  non^mmimoned  officer  (UnZ 
officter),  and  even  then  he  i.  not  comddered  eligible  urSi 
bsanny  record  wpracticanyfaultlc  In  PariTThe  require- 
ment «th«e  yew.  miKtary  ^rvice,  and,  althou^^ 
«,mmu«oned  rank  fa  not  compulwry,  marked  pr^er^ 

luTr^J^'rVf^'  ^  *".»««»  that  ^efo^ 
pohce  recnut  ha.  had  a  eonnderable  probi*tionanr  temS 
duties  which,  under  continental  condiL.,  are^S^  ^e^ 

true,  of  course,  that  a  long  term  of  military  Mrvice  does  »m 

S'  a'^rr*  "  T^'^  «'  'orbeS:^  buJ^d^^ 
subject  a  man  to  «ich  rigid  di«apline  that  hi.  phy«cS 


tiMIMdiM 


•ad  Eof 


a08     PRINCIPUW  OF  UOmCTfkL  ADMINUTIUTION  j 

•nd  tempemmental  defeeti,  if  he  hu  them,  will  mxnfy  | 
to  the  eurfaee  and  be  diwloeed  before  he  ever  pute  i 
policeman's  imiform.  The  eontinoital  aitthoritiet  \ 
little  risk  of  getting  unsteady  or  corrupt  patrolmen  wh«i  j 
■eeure  recruita  in  this  way,  even  though  th^  an  likd; 
get  fellows  who  have  had  all  the  initiative  and  imagina 
drilled  out  of  them.  Whoi  the  continental  policeman  t 
his  military  training  he  is  being  tutored  for  his  job.  1 
term  of  military  service  is  a  probation ;  wh«i  he  finid^ 
the  authorities  can  readily  determine  whether  he  is  thej 
ot  man  they  want. 

In  America,  on  the  other  hand,  the  police  recruita  ii| 
in  the  nature  of  things,  be  taken  from  the  ranks  of  eiviti 
We  have  no  large  military  establishment  to  draw  iiom,  I 
even  if  we  had  one,  the  policy  of  taking  polioemoi  from  i 
taiy  service  would  be  distasteful  to  public  opinion.  ^ 
is  more  to  the  point,  such  a  policy  would  in  all  piobabi 
fail  to  provide  the  sort  of  training  that  a  poliMman  n( 
for  'is  work  in  this  country.  In  England,  where  the  ( 
eeption  of  police  duty  and  demeanor  is  much  like  th4 
America,  it  has  been  found  that  military  training  has  vm 
developed  in  a  police  recruit  more  defects  than  advanti^ 
The  Enj^ish  plan  is  to  gather  men  from  all  parts  of ^ 
country,  giving  preference  to  rural-bred  applicants;  i 
about  20  per  cent  of  the  London  metropolitan  police,  J 
said,  come  from  London  itself.  There  is,  however,  a  caxi 
scrutiny  of  every  applicant's  record,  along  with  a  rigid  i^ 
cal  test  and  a  mental  examination.  It  is  worth  remarij 
that  English  police  authorities  dislike  to  take  on  men  i 
have  been  living  in  their  own  cities ;  thqr  invariably  i»^ 
outsiders.  Many  of  them,  indeed,  absolutely  declini 
appoint  their  own  citizens,  a  policy  that  stands  out  in  s^ 
oontmst  to  the  American  plan  of  practically  insisting,  d| 
by  law  or  by  custom,  that  local  applicants  shall  have  al 
dded  preference.  In  a  word,  then,  the  European  city  a<^ 
a  wider  range  of  choice  in  recruiting  its  police  force ;  it  mal 


roUOl  ADlfINUTR4TfO!f 

a  more  rigoroui  senitiny  of  an  •ppUeant'i  penonal  raooid 
than  most  Ameriean  eitiet  «vw  underUlu  to  do;  and  ito 
Byatem  of  pralumnary  training  is  mora  thorough.  On  th« 
whole  it  leemi  to  get  better  material ;  for  under  ita  reoruit- 
ing  arrangement*  the  job  of  policeman,  deqtite  the  «n.ii 
pay  given,  makea  appeal  to  men  of  higher  jdiyiioal  and 
mental  quaUty  than  is  the  eaae  in  this  oountiy.  In  many 
American  cities,  however,  there  has  been  great  improve, 
ment  in  recent  years.  No  European  dty,  for  example, 
recnuta  ita  police  force  with  greater  care  than  Boston  does 
at  the  present  time.  It  is  true  that  the  situation  in  this 
particular  city  is  rather  exceptional;  yet  it  is  no  less  true 
that  the  initial  caliber  of  the  poUce  is  steadily  improvinc 
throughout  the  country. 

But  by  far  the  most  important  dilFerenoe  between  practi- 
cal poUce  obstodes  in  American  and  European  dties  is  con-  Th.poiht 
nected  with  the  enforcement  of  the  laws  reUting  to  the  SSLm, 
sale  of  intoxicants  and  to  the  soeial  evil.    It  is  here  that 
our  poUce  probity  has  usuaUy  broken  down.    If  we  could 
take  from  the  numberiess  poUce  scandals  in  American  cities 
aU  those  which  have  been  directly  or  indireoUy  connected 
with  the  enforcement  or  the  non-enforcement  of  these  regu- 
lations, there  would  be  surprisingly  few  scandals  left.    Tb» 
Mloon  and  the  brothel  have  been  the  two  great  corrupters 
ofpohcemtegrity.    It  must  be  borne  in  mind,  however,  that 
our  existmg  laws  reUting  to  Uquor  and  soeial  vices  an  the 
product  of  purely  American  traditions,  and  that  in  large 
citi^,  with  thetf  masses  of  foreign-bom,  the  poUce  are  set 
to  the  weU-mgh  hopeless  task  of  enforcing  the  observanee 
of  these  laws  upon  people  who  have  no  such  traditions.  — 
many  of  whom,  in  fact,  have  brou^t  from  their  own  lands 
an  a  together  alien  notion  as  to  what  degree  of  Kberty  should 
be  aUowed  in  such  matters.    And  the  regulations,  be  it  also 
remembered,  are  not  usually  made  by  the  votew  <rf  the  city 
ttiemselves;    they  are  mora  often  than  not  imposed  by  a 
state  legislature  in  obedience  to  the  sentiment  of  rural  dis- 


problem  in 
Europe. 


dOi     PRINCIPLES  OF  MimiClPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

tricts  as  reflected  through  their  representatives.  Rij 
here  is  the  greatest  obstacle  in  the  way  of  maintaining  poj 
integrity,  oo  far  as  the  larger  citi'^e  of  this  country  are  e» 
cemed.  The  patrolman  is  '.ippcscdiy  charged  with  i 
strict  enforcement  of  laws  tha  d  j  not  comma  id  his  own  sy 
pathies  or  those  of  the  people  directly  uudrr  his  supervisii 
and  in  some  cases  not  even  tl  ?  «y  (npathieo  of  higher  oflld 
in  his  own  department.^  Before  him  is  set  constantly  \ 
temptation  to  accept  illicit  payment  for  the  lax  performai 
of  hb  duties ;  if  he  is  ready  to  jdeld,  he  can  easily  double 
annual  salary  and  yet  have  a  fair  chance  of  escaping  det 
tion.  The  gambler,  the  crook,  the  illicit  dealer  in  liquor 
drugs,  the  prostitute,  —  every  man  or  woman  who  wai 
immunity  or  protection  is  the  active  enemy  of  police  hones 
The  policeman  is  menaced  by  temptation  at  every  st< 
no  one  on  the  city's  pay-roll  is  so  relentlessly  pressed  towi 
the  crooked  path.  Too  often,  in  our  denxmciation  of  h 
when  his  guilt  appears,  we  forget  all  this.  The  real  mar 
is  not  that  men  now  and  again  succumb,  but  rather  that 
many  thousands  manage  to  resist.  Let  it  be  emphatica 
added,  however,  that  the  foregoing  remarks  are  not  in  a 
sense  a  plea  for  laxer  laws  or  for  a  lower  standard  of  poll 
morals;  th^  merely  call  attention  to  a  situation  whi 
cannot,  in  any  event,  be  bettered  by  our  complacent  dis 
gard  of  it. 

Turn  for  a  moment  to  the  situation  in  cities  like  Beil 
Paris,  or  Vienna  and  see  how  very  different  it  all  appea 
What  one  may  think  of  the  rules  relating  to  t&e  sale  of  Uqt 
and  the  repression  of  vice  in  these  conmiimitiesis  not  a  mati 
for  discussion  here.  From  the  American  point  of  view  t 
European  laws  bearing  on  such  matters  may  be  soandaloui 
lenient, — perhaps  they  are.  That,  however,  is  not  our  presc 


*  TheM  hii^ier  aathmitiM  loiiMtimM  vna  ioftniet  tha  patnlinu  tl 
"itotatM  rdatiiic  to  liquor  mIUiic,  gunUtnc,  and  vio*  an  nrrar  to  1m( 
tareei  waleBa  speeial  isstruetiotta  an  reoeived  from  tha  6taaxaui&4[  i 
oer"  (L.  F.  Fuld,  PeUee  Ad$iUni»tratien,  New  ToriE,  1010,  p.  110). 


FOUCB  ADMINISTRATION 


305 


concern.    The  immediate  question  is  whether  their  enforee- 
ment  presents  any  such  poUceproblem  abroad  as  that  encoun- 
tered in  America ;  the  answer  is  that  it  certainly  does  not  and 
for  two  reasons.    In  the  first  place,  the  continental  laws  relat- 
ing to  the  sale  of  Kquor  areusually  so  liberal  in  their  provisions 
that  there  is  UtUe  or  no  incentive  to  violate  them.    A  liquor 
license  m  a  German  city,  for  example,  costs  less  than  a  doHar 
a  year,  and  it  can  be  obtained  by  ahnost  any  one.    Repda- 
tioM  as  to  hours  of  closing  are  not  prescribed  by  bw  but  are 
made  by  the  police,  and  are  commonly  of  the  most  lenient 
character.    Under  such  conditions  the  enforcement  of  the 
hquor  laws  obviously  presents  no  poKce  problem.    In  the 
second  pUce,  the  rules  reUting  to  the  social  evil  are  in  most 
of  the  larger  continental  cities  intrusted  to  a  special  branch 
of  the  police  department  which  is  quite  distinct  from  the 
ordinaiy  patrolling  f  oree ;  in  Paris  it  is  called  the  brigade  des 
nuBurs  in  Berlin  the  Sittenpolizei.    In  such  cities  the  rank 
and  file  of  the  regular  force  have  nothing  to  do  with  social 
morahty .»    It  is  not  difficult  to  see  how  greatly  all  this  con- 
duces to  the  removal  of  corrupting  influences  and  to  the 
easier  maintenance  of  proper  standards  of  rectitude  in  the 
corps  of  patrolmen. 

TTiis  difference  in  legal  viewpoint  has  been  comprehen- 
8ively  set  forth  by  President  Frank  J.  Ooodnow  in  a  para- 
graph that  is  as  true  to^y  as  when  it  was  written.*  "In 
the  Umted  States,"  he  writes,  "the  people  have  never  so 
clearly  as  m  Europe,  and  particularly  in  continental  Europe. 
toguished  between  vice  and  crime.  It  is  too  common^ 
believed  m  this  country  that  once  we  have  determined  that 

Z^aZ ^  •'^'^T  '*  ^««««^y  follows  that  such  action 
should  be  cnnunally  punished.  Whetiier  an  action  is  be- 
iieved  to  be  vicious  or  not  depends,  of  coune,  on  a  variety 

cu.l3?L'ft*^K^u*'°^~*''!^^       to  tl»  loctal  •vflk  faHy  db. 
M^ntapia  OoMmmma  (Nmr  York,  1000).  p.  ML 


■BdAaoMw 
viewpoteti 


Eff«eUof 
thisdiifeF- 


806     PRINC3IPLB8  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

of  things.    But  whatever  the  criterion  of  morality  or  im- 
morality may  be,  the  public  belief  in  its  immoral  character 
is  the  result  of  the  standards,  somewhat  subjective  in  oha^ 
acter,  of  the  majority  of  individual  men.    Now,  whethw 
an  act  shall  be  a  crime  or  not   hould  be  dependent  simpfy 
upon  the  question :  Is  it  socially  expedient  to  punish  such  act 
criminally?    The  morality  of  the  act  has  little,  if  anything, 
to  do  with  the  matter.    An  action  may  be,  from  the  view- 
point of  subjective  individual  morality,  absolutely  innocoit, 
and  yet  it  may  properly  be  a  crime.    Thus  from  the  in- 
dividualistic moral  point  of  view  it  is  an  innocent  act  for  s 
man  to  drive  on  either  side  of  a  city  street.    Yet  the  govon- 
ment  may  properly  determine  quite  arbitrarily  that  it  rHaB 
be  a  crime  to  drive  on  either  the  left  or  the  right  side  of  vHe 
street.  .  .  .    Mere  sensual  indulgence  in  any  form  is  vicious. 
But  the  mere  fact  of  its  viciousness  is  not  sufficient  to  justify 
the  government  in  making  it  criminal.    The  only  justifies 
tion  for  punishing  an  act  criminally  is  that  the  welfare  of 
society  requires  that  it  be  so  punished."    A  poUcy  that  desk 
with  vice  as  vice  and  with  crime  as  crime,  adapting  the  law 
and  the  enforcement  oi  the  laws  to  the  needs  of  each,  dam 
not  expect  a  crime-repressing  institution  to  guard  the  stand- 
ard of  private  morals.    It  is  because  European  cities  have 
long  since  recognized  this  principle  that  they  do  not  subjset 
thdr  police  forces  to  temptations  which  human  nature  must 
greatly  strain  itself  to  resist. 

In  a  word,  the  securities  for  efficient  police  administratkn 
in  European  cities  are  largely,  if  not  wholly,  of  a  negative 
character.  The  great  corrupting  influences  are  there,  tait 
they  do  not  work  corruption  so  far  as  the  poUce  are  concemsd. 
In  no  country  of  Europe  are  the  regular  poUce  called  i^ 
to  hold  the  rank  and  file  of  the  city  population  up  to  ^ 
standards  of  conduct  prescribed  for  them  by  rural  lepja- 
tors.  When  a  recent  American  investigator  inquired  of  J 
prominent  London  police  official  what  would  happen  if 
parUament  should  pasa  a  law  forbidding  the  sale  of  Hqa* 


POLICE  ADMINISTRATION 


807 


on  Sunday,  he  was  assured  that  "it  would  mean  the  demoral- 
ization of  the  force."  In  Berlin  he  was  told  that  "the  entire 
German  army  could  not  enforce  such  a  regulation."  ^  Yet 
in  American  cities  we  require  our  police  authorities  to  perform 
tasks  of  just  this  sort.  We  ask  them  to  enforce  rules  relat- 
ing to  public  morals  which  do  not  command  the  ssrmpathy 
of  the  masses.  We  leave  a  hiatus  between  law  and  public 
opinion  which  is  fatal  to  the  work  of  the  law-enforcing  au- 
thorities. European  police  integrity  may  be  due  in  part 
to  organization,  personnel,  and  training,  but  in  much  lai^r 
measure  it  is  attributable  to  the  fact  that  patrolmen  are  not 
burdened  with  tasks  of  preposterous  difficulty  and  are  not 
subjected  to  anything  like  the  sinister  pressure  that  falls 
upon  the  police  officers  in  cities  of  thv  United  States.  When 
we  are  told,  therefore,  that  police  corruption  is  rarely  en- 
countered abroad  whereas  the  American  atmosphere  is  al- 
ways more  or  less  surcharged  with  rumors  or  proofs  of  it, 
we  should  frankly  remind  ourselves  of  the  mormons  differ- 
ences in  the  conditions  under  which  police  duty  has  to  be 
performed  on  the  two  sides  of  the  Atlantic. 

In  German  cities  the  system  of  police  registration  {Mdd»- 
wtien)  is  of  enormous  vidue  in  promoting  the  detection  and  ^^'^  '"c^^ 
punishment  of  crime.'    The  system  requires  that  every  per-  a«ni^M 
son  in  a  community  shall  be  registered  at  the  nearest  police  J^^** 
station,  with  full  information  concerning  his  antecedents.  eSde&oy. 
Every  new  arrival  in  a  German  city  must  register  within 
twenty-four  hours  and  must  produce  documents  of  identifi- 
cation (such  as  a  certificate  of  military  service,  for  example), 
with  a  voucher  of  good  reputation  from  his  last  place  of  resi- 
dence in  Germany.    If  the  nenrcomer  is  a  foreigner,  he  must 
register  within  seven  da]rB  of  his  arrival  and  must  dqxMrit 
bis  passport.    So  rigidly  are  the  rules  relating  to  the  entire 
system  of  police  r^iistration  enforced  that  the  habitual 

I  Raymond  FoKUok,  Ewoptan  PMm  SuiUnu  (New  Tork,  1916),  p.  380. 

•iJ^  "  «odleB»  aaXSub o*  tlte  ifrf#«twww  ma^te«7,  see  iktd,  pp. 
3«)-88l. 


■,'fll 

m 

s 


308     PRINCIPLES  OF  MUNICIPAL  AI»ifINI8TRATI0N     i 

I 

criminal  has  a  difficult  task  in  getting  away  from  sti 
police  surveillance.  The  powers  of  the  German  police  nj 
respect  to  raids  upon  suspicious  places,  arrests  withj 
warrants,  detention  without  a  hearing,  and  methods  of  J 
tracting  confessions  are  also  much  wider  than  those  p 
mitted  to  the  police  in  this  country.  A  system  of  r^pst 
tion  and  of  broad  police  powers  such  as  exists  through* 
Germany  would  revolutionize  police  administration  in  i 
United  States  if  public  opinion  could  tolerate  its  adop| 
here ;  but  neither  in  England  nor  in  America  would  any^ 
of  the  sort  be  endured.  The  right  of  the  citizen  to  come  I 
go  as  he  pleases,  so  long  as  he  keeps  the  peace,  is  to  i 
Ang^o-Saxon  mind  the  very  comeivstone  of  free  gom 
ment.  4 


Pdioe 
detectives. 


tion  of  de- 
tective 
work. 


THB  DETECTIVE  SEBVICE  I 

The  American  conception  of  police  duty  demands  % 
the  main  work  of  a  police  department  shall  be  dire^ 
connected  with  the  preservation  of  law  and  order;  nel 
theless,  there  are  various  special  functions,  quite  ap 
from  the  routine  of  patrolling  the  streets,  that  must  usus 
be  performed  by  city  policemen.  For  ocample,  tiiera 
the  work  of  investigating  crimes,  gathering  evidence,  ij 
preparing  cases  for  court,  —  tasks  that  are  everywhere  | 
into  the  hands  of  special  officers  known  as  detectives 
inspectors.  i 

This  work  of  criminal  investigation  may  be  oiganl 
in  any  one  of  three  ways.  It  may  be  centralized,  pa| 
centralized,  or  altogether  decentralized.  Berlin  affol 
the  best  example  of  the  first  type.  The  oitire  detect! 
force  of  the  city  is  maintained  at  headquart«n ;  it  is  divid 
into  squads,  each  of  which  specializes  in  the  dateoti(»^ 
certain  classes  of  criminals ;  there  are  no  detectives  attacl 
to  the  various  district  stations.  In  Loiulon  ud  FM 
on  the  other  hand,  a  portion  of  the  detective  ewps  is  ml 


POUCB  ADMINISTIUTION 


309 


tained  at  a  central  headquarters,  whUe  the  rest  is  oisposed 
among  the  various  police  divisions.    This  is  also  the  plan 
pursued  in  the  larger  cities  of  the  United  States,  although 
the  practice  here  is  to  keep  all  detectives  nominally  at- 
tached to  headquarters  and  merely  to  detach  some  of  them 
for  divisional  duty  as  occasion  demanos.    The  third  plan 
of  organization,  which  may  be  found  ir   many  smaller 
American  cities,  nmply  involves  the  use  oi  regular  patrol- 
men attached  to  the  various  stations.    These  men  don 
their  plain  clothes  and  receive  assignments  to  detective 
work  whenever  such  services  are  required.    Central  control 
and  supervision  of  this  work  seems  absolutely  essential 
to  good  results  in  aU  large  cities,  and  the  general  opinion 
seems  to  be    that   actual   centralisation   of    the   whole 
detective  force  is  also  desirable.    Experience  has  shown 
that  there  are  advantages  in  having  detectives  thoroughly 
familiar  with  localities ;  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  also  a  good 
thing  to  have  certain  detectives  specialise  on  particular 
chisses  of  crimes  wherever  committed.    In  any  case  the 
bureau  of  criminal  investigation,  or  whatevr  H  may  be 
caUed,  is  a  very  important  branch  of  the  police  depart- 
ment in  every  large  city.    Its  efficiency  must  depend  partly 
on  its  thorough  organisation  and  discipline,  but  also,  in 
larger  part,  upon  the  caUber  and  training  of  the  men  at- 
tached  to  it.    Detectives  are  practically  everywhere,  both 
m  Europe  and  in  America,  recruited  from  the  ranks  of  the 
uniformed  force.    No  special  training,  or  very  little  of  it, 
«  ever  given  to  them  before  they  go  to  work.    The  usual 
practice  is  to  assign  a  promising  patrolman  to  the  task  of 
investigation  and,  if  he  proves  adept,  to  keep  him  at  it 
permanently.    Patience  and  fidelity,  together  with  a  reason- 
able degree  of  alertness  and  intelligenee,  are  the  quaUties 
Meded.    The  officer  who  is  mgaged  in  the  work  of  criminal 
investigation  must  above  aU  other  things  be  incorruptible, 
nnce  from  the  very  nature  of  his  work  he  cannot  weU  be 
kept  closely  under  tiieqre  of  his  superiors.    His  jdahi  dothes 


310     PRINCIPLBS  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


Theidenti- 

iemtionot 

etimioala. 


and  his  freedom  to  go  where  the  trail  leads  give  him  g 
opportunities  for  extortion  or  for  shirking  his  duty.  ( 
traiy  to  the  popular  impression,  the  work  of  a  detei^ 
is  one  of  the  most  tedious  and  least  interesting  of  all  V( 
tions. 

The  work  of  detection  has  been  greatly  assisted  dm 
the  past  generation  by  the  development  of  identificai 
into  an  exact  science.  The  old  poUcy  of  depending  u 
photographs  as  a  means  of  tracing  habitual  criminalaj 
become  obsolete;  the  "rogues'  galleiy"  is  nowadays  t 
in  larger  European  and  American  cities  for  corroborat 
purposes  only.  So,  too,  the  Bertillon  system  of  phji 
measurements,  which  marked  a  distinct  step  forward,  hii 
its  turn  given  way  to  the  dactyloscopic  method  of  identic 
malefactors  by  finger-print  records.  These  records  can 
classified  so  as  to  be  readily  accessible,  and  they  al 
practically  no  margin  of  error.  The  use  of  this  syrt 
which  is  rather  too  intricate  to  be  described  here,i 
greatty  simplified  the  problem  of  fixing  guilt.*  | 

Other  fecial  functions  often  given  to  the  police! 
ThetraSe  the  duties  of  handling  traffic  in  congested  portions  oil 
taty  ■wada,  city  and  inspecting  premises  for  violations  of  the  san^ 
•*"•  code  or  of  the  tenemmt-house  regulations.    With  thiy 

crease  of  traffic  both  in  volume  and  in  variety,  the  4 
of  the  traffic  officers,  as  has  been  already  noticed,  beool 
each  year  more  important.  In  some  cities,  as  New  Y^ 
for  instance,  the  duty  is  performed  by  a  special  trl 
squad,  the  members  of  which  are  chosen  for  this  fund 
and  devote  their  entire  energies  to  it.  In  other  pU| 
like  Boston,  there  is  no  sqaarate  traffic  squad,  butl 

*  The  sothropoiiMtrie  qrttem  of  identilicati<m  it  fully  explainad  tj 
arigiutor,  AlphtHue  BcrtUlon,  in  his  Siifnaktie  /natrvcMnu.  tiMta 
th9  Tkeory  ami  Praetiet  o]  AtUJkrojNmMlrieal  /d«nl</!ealton  (tnoriatd 
R.  W.  MeOaui^iry.  CUasgo,  1896) ;  th»  daot^oteopie  metbod  it  Mil 
by  il<«  iuTentor,  Sir  Sdwud  R.  Henry,  in  liit  (7Iaa«^/!eaH(>f>  wmT  V% 
Fingm-  Printa  (4th  td..  London.  1913).  A  short  outline  of  eeeh  OMtti 
ghroi  fa  R^irmosd  Foadfek't  Bvnptan  Peliee  SytUim,  jff.  819-W.  | 


POUCI  ADMINISTRATION 


811 


work  is  done  by  memben  of  the  regular  force,  detaUed 
from  time  to  time  as  occasion  arises  and  shifted  about 
frequent^.    Nearly  all  smaUer  cities  pursue  this  latter 
plan.    The  duties  connected  with  sanitary  inspection  are 
Bometmies  performed  by  particuUr  officers  assigned  for 
that  purpose,  but  more  often  by  details  from  the  regular 
force.    Likewise,   the  poUce  establishment  is  frequently 
caUed  upon  by  various  other  municipal  departments  to 
detach  patrohnen  to  do  what  migUt  be  done  by  ordinary 
doorkeepers  or  attendants  at  half  ihe  cost.    Some  officen 
again,  must  be  in  daily  attendan.  3  at  the  courts;   some 
are  needed  as  drivers  for  patrol  wagons  and  ambuhmces 
and  some  as  repair  men  to  keep  the  electric  call-box  system 
in  working  order.    Inasmuch  as  these  and  others  are  all 
earned  on  the  roster  of  the  force,  the  available  patrollinir 
stren^h^  is  thus   in   one  way  or  another   considewbty 

In  a  few  American  cities  the  poUce  are  intrusted  with 
duties  which  bring  them  dangerously  near  the  maelstrom  iMi^.1 
of  partisan  pohtics.    In  Boston,  for  example,  the  listing  ^^ 
of  voters  durmg  the  first  week  of  April  in  eviy  year  has  »^^ 
for  many  years  been  performed  by  the  police,  who  make  "''^ 
a  house-to-house  canvas.    It  is  from  these  police  enumer- 
ations  that  the  list  of  voters  is  annually  compiled.    Thus 
far  the  rork  has  been  done  prompUy  and  impartially, 
but  with  a  man  of  partisan  inclination  at  the  head  of  the 
torce  the  arrangement  might  eaaUy  become  an  engine  of  di». 
crimination  against  poUtical  opponents.    Hereafter,  by  the 
promio^  of  a  new  Uw  (1916),  the  arrangement  is  t^  be  dis- 

bihty  of  taking  the  ballot  boxes  to  the  poUs,  standing  by 
^hem  dunng  the  hour,  of  polling,  and  bringing  themback 
mtheevemng.    Early  in  the  morning  of  every  election 


BaUtkmof 

POliMtO 

thteoorti. 


312     PRmCIPLBS  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADmNUmUTION 

day  several  hundred  patrolmen  start  from  the  city  hi 
ea  ih  with  a  ballot  box  and  the  other  paraphotiaUa  tot 
nuuy  polling  precincts.  When  the  poll  opens  the  jMtv 
man  locks  the  ballot  box,  puts  the  key  in  his  poeket,  a 
stands  guard  to  see  that  there  is  no  tampering  with  t 
box  throughout  the  day.  When  the  poll  clos«i  he  opt 
the  box  for  the  warden,  and  after  the  ballots  are  count 
aud  bundled  together  he  takes  .he  whole  outfit  back 
the  city  hall.  The  concentration  of  responsibility  is  eoi 
plete. 

THB  FOUOD  AND  THB  COUKIB 

In  the  discussion  of  police  organisation  and  disoi{^ 
too  little  emphasis  has  usually  been  laid  upon  the  rdati 
of  police  courts  to  police  efficiency.  Without  loyal  sv 
port  from  the  municipal  courts  the  police  cannot  do  ik 
work  well.  On  the  whole  this  support  has  been  {<u\ 
coming;  but  in  some  cases,  especially  when  the  p(^ 
court  judges  are  chosen  by  popular  vote  on  a  partii 
ballot  for  short  terms,  the  police  have  not  had  effect! 
backing  at  critical  jimcturee.  When  a  man  with  furtt 
political  aspirations  and  with  a  misty  sense  of  his  obIi| 
tions  to  the  community  is  placed  on  the  local  bench, 
can  often  find  some  self-advertisonent  aud  cheap  populi 
ity  among  certain  classes  of  voters  by  abruptly  dismksi 
offenders  and  lecturing  the  police  instead,  under  the  specie 
pretence  of  guarding  the  personal  rights  of  dtiiaas.  M( 
than  one  American  city  has  experienced  this  sort  of  thii 
with  all  the  demoralization  of  police  initiative  that  it  biii 
in  its  train.  Cooperation  between  the  poUee  dqpartou 
and  the  police  courts  is  essential  to  the  best  results  in  bo< 
The  freedom  with  which  appeals  may,  on  trivial  groom 
be  taken  to  higher  judicial  authorities,  the  firequaBl  apat 
of  elective  district  attorneys  in  pressing  sud^  aiipe*^ 
trial,  and  the  indifferent  way  in  which  higher  courts  of( 


POLlOl  ADMINISTRATION 

fdl  to  wpport  tliow  below, -lOI  thew  faoton  have  tended 
to  debflitate  the  vigor  with  which  poUoe  departments  do 
their  work. 

Despite  these  various  handicaps,  however,  there  has 
been  »  steady  improvement  in  the  caUber  of  American 
poUce  officers  and  in  the  morals  of  dty  poUee  departments, 
M  wdl  as  m  the  earnestness  and  impartiaUty  with  which 
they  do  their  work.    Much  of  this  has  been  due  to  the 
introduction  of  civil-service  methods  in  appointments  and 
to  the  greater  security  of  tenure  which  police  officers  now 
enjoy ;  but  to  some  extent,  also,  the  improvement  comes 
from  better  rates  of  pay  and  more  considerate  f  reatment  in 
the  matters  of     oriring  hours  and  discipline.    It  must 
never  be  forgotten,  however,  that  the  problem  of  keeping 
an  Amencan  poUce  department  up  to  a  high  standardly 
efficiency,  impartiality,  and  honesty  is  an  extremely  diffi- 
cult one,  involving  not  only  constant  vigilance  but  a  liberal 
outlay  from  the  pubUc  funds.    When  eorruption  or  incom- 
petence finds  its  way  into  dty  administration,  the  police 
department  is  under  ordinary  conditions  liable  to  be  the 
finrt  to  fed  the  effect;  for  it  is  here  that  dnister  pressure 
can  be  most  readify  applied. 


CHAPTER  Vin 


fiiB  PiBvmnoir  axd  nu  noncnoH 


What  fin 

I»<ot«etion 

iaeliidM. 


Eunvean 


OB  fire 

PHTBUtiOBi 


The  protection  of  life  and  property  against  dettnij 
or  danger  by  fire  includes  two  wholly  Cerent  undertaU 
namely,  fire  prevention  and  fire  fighting.  It  is  one  I 
to  prevent  &res  from  breaking  out;  it  is  quite  ami 
thing  to  handle  than  aftnr  they  occur.  These  two  fund 
are,  indeed,  so  different  in  their  nature  that  th^  are^ 
often  intrusted  to  separate  authorities,  but  they  are  | 
erly  parts  of  the  same  general  civic  task.  Li  Asm 
until  within  quite  recent  years,  we  have  given  but  1 
attention  to  fire  prevention.  City  authorities  have^ 
voted  most  of  their  activity  to  building  up  elaborat«| 
efficient  fire-fighting  machines,  with  the  result  thall 
fire  brigades  of  American  cities  are  incomparably  supj 
to  those  found  anywhere  in  Europe.  | 

As  regards  appliances,  methods,  and  personnd  we  hail 
most  nothing  to  learn  from  any  European  city  in  the  scl 
of  fighting  fires.  The  English,  French,  and  German  «! 
on  the  other  hand,  have  given  their  chi^  energies  td 
prevention.  Trusting  in  the  old  commonplace  thai 
ounce  of  prevention  is  worth  a  pound  of  cure,  th^  !i 
chosen  to  spend  their  money  in  salaries  to  building  int^ 
tors  rather  than  in  maintaining  hydrants,  engines,! 
water-towers.  In  this  practice,  indeed,  hes  the  1 
tangible  difference  between  the  respective  policies  oi  M 
pean  and  American  cities  in  the  matter  of  fire  protei| 
—  the  former  put  emphasis  on  fire  prevention,  the  U 

814 


fllli  FBilVTOrPION  AND  lllli  PRoncnoN     816 

on/lrt/ightmg.  Tht  oonaequenoe  it  th.t,  while  the  tauml 
firo  loMe.  of  fonrign  dtie.  m  being  Held  within  bo«X 
thoM  of  American  dtiee  have  beoi  rteedily  ririnTS 
at  prnent  they  oonrtitute  »  etuptadou.  dndn  otTSmt^ 

of  the  United  Sutee  about  doubled,  but  in  the  emwriod 

the  annual  fi:t»  loeeee  nearly  quadrupled  i    "**  '•^  P*»«« 

In  Europe  the  hiatoiy  of  efforto  to  prevent  fire  raTane 

tZ  ;„1J^  *^*if^*  ^^""  conflagration  of  laS^  «-cnr- 
these  endeavor,  have  progreeeed  steadily  ever  eince  T  ^""^ 

Amenca  the  rtartin^point  ii  commonly  let  at  1^'    kl 
^•7*.^^  Z-^  Allen,  a  cotton-Sl^^'o^^iuet 

^nl^lJ^'^'r**^^'*'**"'  ideaof  making  hf^ 
fire-proof.  He  adopted  every  buUding  imtrovemBnt  ^* 
mgenuity  could  at  that  timeWg^TthrhT^^l^^ 
^cecompanieeandaekedforalowrate.  ^did^t 
grtit.  The  mmirance  men  merely  told  him  that  "a  cotton 
miU  was  a  cotton  mill,"  and  that  the  amiual  ratJ  TJZ 
be  4  per  cent  a.  u«,al;  hereupon  Allen  becJToIe^ 
the  founden  of  the  "factoiy  mutual"  evrtem^fiT,! 

worth  of  m«,«d  property  at  the  av«age  amiual  r2^f 

United  StotM  by  av^wZr^JES!     T.^Sf^***  ****^  *»  *<>•*•  ta  the 


TuM 


1875-79 
1880-84 
188&-86 
1890^ 
1885-99 
190(HM 
1905-09 


nAB 


Bi  frrm. 


9  363.018,285 
4S0.687.168 
561.0S0.090 
711326.711 
661.398.058 
862.325.860 

1.306.600,160 


AvBua  AnraM.  ham 

•  70,608.667 
W.117.432 
113.301310 
143366.152 
132378.701 
172,466.173 
361.101331 


819    PRmOIPLM  Of  IfUNiaiPAL  ADllDinfnUTiOII  1 

lix  eoiti  per  hundrad  doll«n.  lite  ide*  whieh  undtriki 
form  of  iasunmce  it  HuA  tiw  miU-owiMr  ihaU  qpend  a| 
in  removing  fire  h*iardi  nther  thui  in  paying  inmii 
premiuma.  The  owner  ie  required  to  mi^  hii  j^rofi 
IMKxrf  agunet  all  ordinary  riika,  and  the  company  aiM 
at  a  email  rate  whatever  hasud  may  remain.  It  wl 
long  time,  however,  b^ore  property-ownen  in  other  hnmi 
of  buaineae  oould  be  bnmi^t  to  realiie  the  folly  of  tptfti 
money  to  eover  liski  rather  than  to  reduce  than,  and  I 
tOKiay  our  letiiargy  aa  regarda  the  elimination  of  obii 
fire  haaarda  ocntinttes  in  many  communitiee. 


iaaaaitiM. 


OUS  AKNUAL  VIBI  WASIS 

In  aU  tiie  chief  countriea  ot  Europe  the  annual  der :-  ^^ 
of  property  by  fire  ia  aatoniahini^  email.'  In  tht  t/.  ^-i 
laigect  citiee  of  the  Qerman  Elmpire,  for  exanq;>le,  witii  \ 
combined  population  of  8,500,000,  the  entire  l9ii  tod 
year  1910  was  sli^tfy  more  than  a  million  doUars,  <^ 
than  twelve  centa  per  capita.  In  the  five  laigeat  Ameri 
dties,  on  the  othw  hand,  with  approximate  the  ■ 
combined  population,  the  total  loeeee  in  tiie  lame  i 
footed  up  to  fifteen  million  doUars,  or  nearly  two  (k| 
per  capita.  The  annual  fire  Iocs  of  Paris,  with  ne 
three  million  inhabitants,  rardy  goes  much  above  a  mil 
dollars,  whereas  Chicago,  with  a  smaller  populatttm,  eof 
it  a  forttmate  year  wh«i  its  losses  are  four  times  as  l(j 
In  1911  London  had  4455  fires,  but  ho-  total  losses  amom 

>  Tlw  flcnm  of  in  km  in  tlM  Uaitod  StetM  sad  Onsda.  aad  I 
^ief  Baropeaii  oonntries,  for  the  jrw  1911  an  M  Mlom : — 

LOHH  MB  QkHM 

Doited  StatM  aad  GMUida     ....  12.68 

■nsiud 48 

Wamoe JO.                i 

Ocimany JH                ^i 

I*»fy       *l                 3 

BtatirtM  of  fin  hMaea  ia  Amarioa  aad  aliraid  M«  imUfated  flma  li 
tiow  in  the  NatiniBl  ffae  Pnteetion  Aaodatkm'e  QimtiHv. 


fM  PimmmoN  and  mi  manonoN    sir 

tooiifyan^,nd*h«|fdoll«,;  whik  N«r  York,  wtth 

fw«t.  Berlin  and  Chiciiio  •»  not  «w  Miirt  in  mi«r^  S! 
pop«kUc«,  but  B«lin  !««  by  fl«  ..2^  ^  ^ 

one  t«jth  M  much  -  CJhiwigo.  Nor  ii^^  XSiS 
co,^  to  the  kijer  dtii..  Hi.  per  e^i  ^iZ 
of  Frankfort^tij-Mdn,  for  e«unple7L  IS  thTfiS 

•bov  five  d<rfU«.  A  di«»epiu»cy  «  g,«.rrZ  «jr 
denumdi  a  oMehil  espUnntion  ^^^ 

rei^L'^^'Lf'r"*  ***^  there  «,  v«io«. 
msons.    In  the  lint  plaoe,  one  mutt  take  into  aeeount  '--rnufi 

of  fipe.r«rtmg  conjrtniction,  the  high  oort  ofS^  a^ 
^ih  ti  '^•^^^  *""P^*  fi~  may  be  eomm^ 
control.    Itiiiaid,inf«rt,thatoutofthe£ourthott3'^>*'- 

^don  &*  brigade  i.  artoniddngly  quick  in^^Z  t 

toe  fire  bn^erf  any  u,^  American  dty.  On  the  3 
t«uy,  the  fire-fighting  force  of  New  York  Qty  i.  t^^ 
«l«»e  »  «iat  of  Ix»ndon  and  if  equipm^^tVintT 

I^dtlT/  ""r*'"^**^  ^  «^  to  fi«  more  q«X 
Md  doe.  better  work  when  it  geto  there.  It  i.  dmS 
ttwt  fires  do  not  n,read  rapidly  in  Europe  becaie^ 
»httle  for  them  to  nuke  headway  upon.        ^^ 

•bread  M  BO  much  amalte  than  it  i.  here.    One  e^ 


«rfwitotrtli«M.8p,«rt«f 


SA 


?JLi9?j>3f-'. 


318     PBINOIPLBS  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


2.  Better 

in-tuward 

Imnand 

malatkna 

abKMui. 


nation  is  to  be  found  in  the  carefully  drawn  and  stric 
enforced  regulations  relating  to  fire  hasards.  Not  a 
are  rigid  rules  laid  down  in  regard  to  the  construction 
well  as  in  regard  to  the  use  of  buildings,  but  the  system 
inspection  in  the  interest  of  fire  prevention  is  dabor 
and  efficient.  The  origins  of  all  fires  must  be  investigat 
When  the  cause  does  not  plainly  appear  an  inquest 
held,  after  the  fashion  of  the  coroner's  iaquest  in  AJnori 
and  every  phase  of  the  occurrence  is  probed.  Nei^dgei 
which  results  in  starting  a  fire  is  severely  penalised, 
policy  that  insures  a  greatly  increased  sense  of  persoi 
responsibilily.  In  Firanoe  and  in  the  other  countries  whi 
the  so-termed  "law  of  voisinage"  prevails,  the  owner  oi 
building  is  liable  whenever  damage  by  fire  results  to  oth< 
from  his  n^;Iigence;  and  the  tenant,  in  turn,  is  liable 
the  landlord  for  the  results  of  his  carelessness.^  In  Ameri 
we  have  put  no  such  emphasis  on  the  respimsilnlity  of  t 
individuals  to.  the  community.  The  first  evidence  of 
stq>  in  this  direction  is  to  be  found  in  a  recent  sooeesi 
suit  brou^t  by  the  fire  commissioner  of  New  Yoric  Qi 
under  an  old  and  almost  forgotten  provision  of  the  d 
charter  which  requires  that  owners  and  tenants  shall  leii 
burse  the  city  for  the  cost  of  putting  out  fires  whenen 
wilful  disregard  of  a  fire-d^artment  order  can  be  dioi 
to  have  been  the  cause.  There  are  possible  dangers,  in  ti 
arrangement,  however,  for  it  may  encourage  people 
r^rain  from  calling  the  firemm  until  the  flames  have  ma 
progress  beyond  amateur  control. 

But,  ev^  with  due  allowance  for  the  handicap  (rf  i 
flammable  structures,  the  fact  ranains  that  the  vm 
losses  in  Amoican  cities  are  far  in  excess  of  what  iSk 
ought  to  be.  Few  persons  realise  the  enormity  <rf  tl 
total  waste.    Counting  the  aggregate  fire  losses  of  eve 

>  J.  K.  FraitMrt  Fin  PrtmUiM  mitd  Fin  fVotoefJM  (N«wTotk.  191 
ooataiaa  »  pMd  dinuMioB  of  tiMM  nitttwa  (^.  1S-4S),  aad  is  bjPAftMi 
the  bMt  gwunl  treatiw  on  the  whcde  mbjaet  of  Sn  prevntiaa. 


FIM  PRKVINTION  AND  URB  PiCOTlOTION       319 

■ort,  rural  and  urban,  the  annual  destruction  in  the  United 
States  amounts  to  more  than  six  hundred  thousand  dollars 
a  day,  or  about  four  hundred  dollars  per  minute.    Our 
total  fire  loss  in  any  recent  year  equals  a  large  part  of  the 
cost  of  constructing  the  Panama  Canal.    "If  all  the  build- 
ings burned  in  the  United  States  in  any  single  year  were 
placed  side  by  side  they  would  make  an  avenue  of  desola- 
tion aU  the  way  from  Chicago  to  New  York,  and  at  every 
three  quarters  of  a  mile  some  one  would  be  found  burned 
to  death."    In  the  past  ten  years  enough  bufldinei  h»ve 
been  burned  in  this  country  to  line  a  boulevard  reaching 
from  ocean  to  ocean.    In  the  same  decade,  moraover,  fire 
has  destroyed  thirty  thousand  Uvea  and  maimed  more 
than  twice  as  many  persons.    It  has  cost  us  more  in  killed, 
wounded,  and  missing  than  Antietam  and  Gettysburg  put 
together. 

Nor  does  tiie  sum  total  of  actual  fire  loss  tdl  the  whole 

Btoiy  of  wastefuhiess.    To  it  must  be  added  a  large  part 

of  our  expenditures  for  fire^g^ting  equipment  and  forces,  it's, 
and  also  a  considerable  portion  of  what  it  now  costs  to  oon-  '«'*•  •»-• 
duct  the  business  of  fire  insurance.  The  payment  of  in- 
surance on  burned  buikUngs  and  goods  does  not  restore 
the  property  destroyed;  it  simply  means  that  the  burden 
of  the  loss  is  distributed  widely.  Everybody  who  pays 
'"'^^i^^c^VremmDB  or  buys  insured  goods  is  taxed  for  fire 
wiiste.  The  insurance  company  is  merely  a  medium  through 
which  the  money  to  pay  losses  is  collected;  and  on  the 
whole,  with  Its  commissions  to  agents  and  its  heavy  ratio  of 
overhead  expenses,  it  is  a  pretty  expensive  medium  for  the 
purpose.  Every  fire  reduces  the  per  capita  wealth  of  the 
nation,  no  Atter  whether  the  Iomt  is  insured  or  not. 
mere  is  also  the  loss  of  business  which  invariably  aecom- 
^ames  a  large  fire, -the  la«  of  rentals,  taxes,  wages,  and 

It  seems  to  matter  Uttle  whether  the  American  dty  is 
wfge  or  small,  — its  per  capiu  losses  range  high  every 


320     PRINCIPLBS  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


J»g2;^  year.  A  marked  degree  of  efficiency  in  the  fire^troteo 
faeOMMiiot  service  helps,  of  course,  to  keep  the  figure  down  so 
what,  but  not  to  any  substantial  extent.*  One  earn 
therefore,  escape  from  the  conclusion  that  no  munidpa 
can  hope  to  secure  any  great  reduction  in  its  annual 
loss  merely  by  motorising  its  fire  apparatus  or  by  mal 
any  other  improvement  in  its  fire-figjbting  facilities,  h 
ever  desirable  on  their  own  account  these  thingn  may 
The  losses  keep  on,  month  by  month,  with  remarki 
steadiness.  At  times  some  large  conflagration  will  ca 
the  figures  to  rise  abruptly,  and  it  occasionally  happ 
that  for  a  few  weeks  the  amount  of  destruction  tiirou^ 
the  country  will  be  relative^  small;  but  in  any  sei 
of  years  the  monthly  statistics  of  fire  loss  range  pre 
steadily  between  fifteen  and  twenty-five  millions.  Ri 
like  the  poor,  we  seem  to  have  with  us  always.  They 
likely  to  ronain  with  us,  moreover,  until  the  Ameru 
city  devotes  its  chief  energies  to  an  attack  up(m  the  pr 
lem  at  its  source,  —  that  is  to  say,  until  it  ascertains  i 
chief  avoidable  causes  of  fire  waste  and  alimimrtfli  them 

>  7r  11107  the  natbiuJ  goTaniiMat  nndflrtook  u  invNtkatkn  of 
tones  in  dties  of  vuryiiic  rin.    Hen  am  the  flgum  in  «~«iiiiitti1 1 

1907,  pp.  181. 330,  435) : — 


.ffct-'F 

evCoiH 

SwoMnoN 

"SJsr 

«H 

aroupl.             .r  800.000 

■adov  •          .... 

OnrnpIL    ..     0(100.000 

toaooxno     .  .  .  . 

OioiV  m.  CitiM  of  50.000 

to  100.000 
Qtaoprr.  Citiwo(30,000 

to60.000 

15 
» 
47 
«7 

13.087.550 
4.588.718 
3.a88X>10 
a.616,761 

120.388380 

10348.204 

8,587,688 

5,4n,042 

3J 

Total      

158 

28,511.080 

854.211.814 

FIRE  PMVBNTION  AND  RBI  PROTICTION 


321 


m 

%."%£ 

B8» 

mM 

m 

3J9 

B» 

am 

M3 

M- 

SU 

9^ 

fMtofyfln 


THi  CAXJtm  OF  raas  w  aiobsican  cmn 
What  are  the  ehief  eauaes  of  fing?    Accurate  figuns 
in  answer  to  this  important  question  are  hard  to  get     It  '^■"«»- 

is  true  that  the  fire-protection  authorities  try  to  kein  a  '"^ 

record  of  causes,  but  the  information  given  in  these  reebrd^ 
IS  far  from  being  generally  satisfactory  or  complete     In 
the  case  of  one  third  or  more  of  all  the  fires  the  cause  is 
set  down  as  "unknown"  or  "not  reported";    and  in  a 
gr«it  many  otiier  cases  tiie  alleged  causes  may  not  be. 
and  probably  are  not,  the  real  ones.    Such  tilings  as  "de^ 
fective  wrnng,"  "mice  pkying  witii  matchesT^'eponta- 
neous  combustion,"  and  various  otiier  snap  diagnoea  are 
often  put  down  because  tiie  true  causes  are  not  readily 
ascertainable.    As  a  reputed  source  of  trouble  "defective 
wirmg    has  become  very  popukr  in  recent  years;  yet  it 
IS  the  opmion  of  electiical  averts  tiiat  not  one  fire  in  a 
hundred  <»n  properly  be  kid  to  tiiis  cause.    Incendiarism 
M.  also  a  frequent  allegation  in  tiie  records  of  fi«»,  even 

when  there  18  httie  or  no  reason  to  suspect  any  such  origin. 
K  an  owner  knows  tiuit  he  has  a  peisomd  emiiy,  he  sX 
tim«  finds  m  that  fact  a  sufficient  reason  for  assiiX 

enmity  as  tiie  cause  of  his  misfortime.  On  tiie  whdiZ 
fipires  we  not  v«y  dependable;  but,  since  tiiey  are  ^m- 

mg  to  be  compiled  witii  more  care,  tiwy  will  in  time  doubt- 
less be  of  greater  vahie.     European  statistics  as  to  the 

causM  of  fi«»,  on  tiie  otiier  hand,  may  be  used  witii  fuU 
confidence;  for  the  cause  is  always  determined  after  a 
careful  mvestigation  and  usually  after  a  formal  inquest 
be^^n^  "H^J^  c«e  may  by  general  agiSemeat 
be  set  down  as  tiie  chief  causes  of  fires  everywhere.    People  "~-d 
do  not  seem  to  realise,  for  eaunjOe,  tiiat  movable  Z  ""^ 
br^kets  are  superiativebr  dangerous;   it  does  not  oc^ 

l^TJ^  ^T"  ^^  ""  "^ '^'^  ^"^ '^ '^^ 
kteM?  ^  ^.i."™«  ^^  '^^^  •  ««rtain  or  brought 
mto  contact  witii  some  otiier  inflammable  deooratioTor 


I 


322     PRIMCIPLKS  OP  ICUNICIPAL  ADMimSTIUTION 


FitMand 
the  morml 
luuwrd. 


oiled  ragB  used  in  polishing  furniture  or  floors  are  euel| 
left  lying  about  and  ignite  some  hours  after  their  use.  j 
rubbish  is  allowed  to  accumulate  in  cupboards  and  doi 
matches  are  left  where  children  can  reach  them ;  keroi 
and  gasoline  are  used  in  lighting  the  kitchen  fire;  d 
neys  are  left  unrepaired  and  tmdeaned ;  ends  of  cigari 
go  into  the  waste-basket :  personal  carelessness  may  l| 
many  forms.*  The  best  fire-prevention  experts  ini 
country  are  convinced  that  folly  half  our  fires  owe  I 
origin  either  to  ignorance  or  to  a  thoughtlessness  th| 
even  worse  than  ignorance.  Wilful  carelessness  als^ 
counts  for  some  heavy  losses.  Any  situation  which  vd 
a  fire  profitable  to  the  awnet  puts  a  premium  on  intent! 
neglect.  Such  a  situation  is,  indeed,  frequently  cr^ 
through  a  failure  of  the  insurance  company  to  make  i 
that  an  owner  is  not  protected  for  a  larger  amount  | 
his  property  is  worth. 

Between  wilful  carelessness  and  actual  incendiai 
there  is  no  great  gap.'  The  man  who  intends  to  pi 
from  a  fire  can  gain  his  end  in  dther  way ;  he  can  sei 
property  afire,  or  he  can  by  intentional  negligence  UM 
fire  occur  through  seemingly  natural  causes.  In  el 
case  the  motive  of  his  action  is  too  much  insurance,  and 
only  remedy  b  some  plan  whereby  the  owner  shall  beo| 
with  the  insurance  company,  a  co-insurer  of  his  own  pren^ 
To  this  end  insurance  ought  never  to  be  given  to  a  gni 
amotmt  than  perhaps  80  per  cent  of  the  property's^ 
market  value.  Such  a  plan,  by  putting  one  fifth  or  i_ 
of  the  loss  on  the  owner  himself,  would  serve  as  a| 
deterrent.  Unfortunatdy,  however,  we  are  vary  far  | 
any  such  rational  situation  in  the  matter  of  fire  un 
writing.    Many  companies  do  insist  on  the  80  per  < 

>  A  toble  of  raoOTded  omum  !■  piiiited  in  J.  K.  FnitME*"  'Vrt  Pmi 
tmd  Pin  ProlaeMm  (N«w  Toric.  1912).  pp.  2»-«>.  1 

*  The  rqx»t  by  joaefii  Johiuoo,  ibe  eomniinkmer,  eatitied  latm 
ritm  in  Ortater  New  York  (New  Toric,  19]  2),  oontalnp  »  otedil  Mid  fMJi 
diwaadoa  of  this  topic 


HRB  PREVENTION  AND  FIRB  PROTECTION        323 

c<Hitturance  provirion  with  nspeet  to  stook-in-tnuie.  ete 
a  provmon  by  whidi   the    in«mnce  murt   always   bi 
keptuptothi.level,nomo«andnole«;brS^ 
wngenMmtdoes  not  apply  to  mort  other  olaaM  of  inaur- 

^ZT^'  *  ^"*^  \^^^  the  p«ctice  of  the^ 
pames  to  inaat  upon  the  inspection  of  every  risk  before 
issumg  a  pohqy,  and  to  pn,vide  for  ireqLt  visits  to 
insured  prmises   during  the  lifetime  of  the  policy,  the 

itTpXrFv":j:^r  ^^^^^^-^  ^  ^ 

It  IS  probably  wrthm  the  mark  to  say  that  from  5  to  7 
Z.TJ  T  ^"^  fi"  I«»  »  due  to  the  action  of 
owners  who  thus  sdl  out  to  the  insurance  companies.* 
T^e  science  of  fae  prevention  is  concerned  not  only 

but  with  laie  ehmmation  of  those  which  cause  them  to  ""^ 
^read.    One  fire-epmding  agent  is  the  thin  p  J^  wiS 
between  bmldmgs.    This  wall  should  always  bTS  J^ 
^ppmg  construction  and   should  extend  a  Kttte  w^ 
above  the  roof.     The  open  elevator  well  also  hdps  to 

mg.  But  the  greatest  conflagration  factor  of  all,  as  &^ 
prevention  experts  everywhere  ag«e,  is  the  woodei  ^ 
roof.  Burung  shmgles  may  be  carried  long  distan^by 
the  wmd  or  by  the  natural  draught  of  ^^^^JI 
abghting  on  dj  roofs  elsewhere^ly  «<^T'X?e 
comrnumty     TTie  use  of  wooden  shLglesTroJfi^t 

Mties  that  have  such  limits,  and  in  many  enliriitened 

S  m^  "7,  **^'  "^^  *^«'-*  ban^er^Sc? 
•nTwT^u*"  '^°'*  ^  ^^'  I*  "  not  necewaiy  nor 
would  It  be  practicable  to  roquiro  the  removT^fs?^ 


22i    PRINCIPLI8  O?  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

■hingle  roofs  as  are  now  in  existenee ;  but  the  buCding  oi 
should  certainly  forbid  their  construction  in  the  futi 
and  it  might  also  insist  that,  when  a  shingle  roof  has 
be  substantially  repaired,  it  shall  be  restored  not  with 
original  material  but  with  some  fire-resisting  type  of  roofi 

HOW  mtB  L08SK8  MAT  Bl  BXDUOBD 

Tliere  are  three  chief  factors  that  create  a  likdihood 
nmpiwfmf  fires  in  any  community  —  or  three  predisposing  featui 
*^*  "*"*  they  may  be  termed.  Pirst  of  all,  there  is  the  pkym 
hazard,  the  risk  that  arises  from  the  combustible  oonstr 
tion  of  a  building  or  of  adjacent  structures.  Then,  in  i 
second  place,  there  is  the  oeeupational  hasard,  tiie  i 
that  arises  from  the  dangerous  trades  carried  on  wit] 
buildings,  no  matter  what  their  construction.  And,  final 
there  is  the  ptnonai  haiard,  the  risk  which  comes  from  \ 
fact  that  some  owners  and  tenants  are  negligent  throv 
ignorance  or  intention,  or  dse  actually,  set  fire  to  tli 
prop^y  in  order  to  eolleot  insunmoe.  Fire  prevent! 
in  its  larger  significance  aims  at  the  reduction  of  these  th 
great  hazards  or  sources  of  risk.*  The  fire-preveoti 
movemtnit  is  endeavoring  to  secure,  both  by  compuU 
and  by  encouragement,  a  larger  proportion  of  fii«-pn 
buildings,  especially  in  the  crowded  sections  of  the  d 
It  aims,  again,  in  the  case  of  such  buildings  as  are  dang 
ous  from  the  nature  of  the  usee  to  which  th^  ai«  put  I 
factories,  theatres,  and  t^iements)  to  make  the  owm 
provide  extra  safeguards  against  fire.  Finally,  it  se^ 
reduce  negligence  on  the  part  of  owners  and  tenants  bj 
campaign  of  education ;  and  it  tries  to  discourage  ineend 
rism  both  by  urging  a  rigid  investigation  into  tiie  cam 

>  The  beat  louw  of  rt*tfaitio>l  and  dwnriptivw  infomurtkm  oa  tin  ii 
pravmtioQ.  ud  hMidliiig  of  tnm,  m  weO  m  cm  tho  iupeotim  Mid  ltd 
mm  of  ftw  hsnrdi,  is  the  Cmfopadte  ef  Fire  Prtvtnihn  and  ttmir* 
(4  vol!.,  OiioMeo.  1913),  iMiMd  Iqr  tbt  AimtteMt  Sohool  of  Cotni 
Than  k  a  umIuI  UUkgn^  •(  tho  bidaaiat  of  OMh  ▼tdniM. 


rai  PBIVINTION  AND  TO|  HWraoriON       826 

Of  eveiy  Buapicious  &e  and  by  impresring  upon  under- 
wnte«  the  necesaity  of  ft«,uent  iLpectiSnatop^ 
over-iMurance.  F«»rw«» 

To  do  aU  these  things  require,  the  erattion  «f  wme  new 
atarative  machinery;   in  other  word.,  ^^^^  n-^c 
b^^a  fir^prejention  department  or  buWin  connection  "^ 
i\     Z  ?*?  «°^«n«»<«t.    It  i.  dear  that  the^rk  SS?" 
which  murt  be  done  by  «,ch  a  dqmrtment  camiot  p«^y  *-'• 
be  confined  within  the  limit,  of  a  angle  dty  Uo^ml 
dcipality  applie.  rtrict  rule,  regj^*  Z'r^uS^n  S 
fire  hazard.  wWIe  neighboring  dtieTand   town.  WLto 

and  jealousy.    Pir^prevention  adminirtration  ought  thoS 
oie  to  be  a  rtate  function,  and  it  i.  in  fact  bZ\md^ 
lrof*"fi"""^-v^   '*"   Penn^lvania   esta^enSe  p..^ 

^rLtv'SlrK*'*'*^'*^^^'"*'  clothing  it  wS  ^^ 
power  to  investigate  the  cauM.  of  fin.  and  to  enforce  the 
laws  relatmg  to  the  reduction  of  fi«,  ha«wb.    ^  fi« 
2»hal  IS  appointed  by  the  governor  ior^Z^y^^ 
and  must  devote  hi.  entire  time  to  the  duties  of  ^^ 

*M'i^  ^^r  ^*"  »  ^"«*"  "f  fire  prevention  was  e^ 
tabhshed  m  New  York  Qty  a.  a  branch  of  Z  ^Z  H«r  Y«k. 
fi«  departm«jt  The  enforcement  of  all  fire-prevS 
Ration,  and  the  whole  work  of  inspection  is  noVh^C 
by  tbs  bureau,  whidi  ha.  plana  alrell^in  operaTioTfwa 
men  Uy  examination  of  every  buflding  m  the  ^  a  ^JrtLJ 
mvoh^g  about  one  hundred  th^d  u^oTZ 
month  To  perform  thi.  work  thoroughly  wouW  of  courL 
take  a  laiger  force  than  the  bureau  cwTnow  provide  C 
ihe  .^^eetion.  wiU  at  any  rate  diadose  the  ST'olViSlL* 

offit  TZ"^^"^^  established  a  rtate  fir^prevention 

^ve^^r  forTthLl'""^"""  *"  ^  *PP«^^  »>y  the 
^or  for  a  three-year  term,  with  juri«liction  over  the 

Boston  metropohtan  dirtrict.    ITii.  commi«on«r,  be«d« 
» Pmmai^ta$tia  Ada,  IMi,  Na  XL 


asiasi 


Othor 
■totes. 


826     PRINCIPLI8  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINI8TIUTI0M 

being  ohufed  with  the  general  enforeonent  of  al 
prevention  laws  and  regulations  within  the  dietoiot, 
also  make  q>eeiia  regulations  either  for  the  whole  d 
or  for  any  part  of  it.  His  orders  are  mandatory  upo 
fir»-proteotion  authorities  of  the  various  dties  and 
within  his  fidd  of  jurisdiction.* 

Other  states  have  taken  steps  in  the  same  dii« 
There  is  pressing  need  of  greater  activity,  however,  be 
the  annual  wastage  that  results  from  the  failure  to  pi 
centralised  and  adequate  machinery  for  the  enforeem< 
fire-prevoition  rules  is,  as  we  have  seen,  intolerably 
Firo-prevention  bureaus  will  in  time  have  to  obtain 
wider  powers  and  greater  appropriations,  but  the  r« 
of  their  work  will  surely  be  an  ample  return  for  any  le 
able  outlay. 

The  danger  of  conflagration  and  heavy  fire  loss  is  grc 

^^Si^  ^^^^  ?*°y  ^«*  buildings  of  combustible  oonstru 

Unite.        *»  huddled  dose  together.    That  was  the  situatic 

all  American  dties  a  generation  ligo,  and  even  yet 

far  from  bdng  eveiywhere  eliminated,  in  spite  of  the 

that  eveiy  big  dty  now  has  its  "fire  limits"  within  ? 

no  frame  structures  an  allowed  to  be  erected.    Thm 

limits  vary  from  dty  to  dty,  but  as  a  rule  they  in< 

the  business  section  and  such  reddential  areas  as  are 

gested.    In  New  York  City  they  take  in  aU  of  Manhi 

south  of  165th  Street  and  the  Hariem  Kver,  together 

a  large  portion  of  the  boroughs  of  Brooklyn  and  Qu 

and  a  smaUer  part  of  The  Bronx.    In  PhiUddphia 

mdude  aU  the  territory  within  the  dty  limits  accept 

tions  of  three  outlying  wards;   in  Boston  they  emfa 

about  two  thirds  of  the  dty.    In  the  smaUer  dties 

Meas  covered  are  rdativdy  of  much  less  extent    I 

city  fixes  its  own  limits  by  ordinance,  in  some  cases  set 

strict  bounds,  in  others  protecting  only  tho  main  bus 

street  Mid  its  immediate  vidnity. 

» JfoMocAiiMlU  AeU  and  Kmbn.  lOM,  oh.  791. 


fiM  mvEtmoH  Ain>  wma  PRononoN    S27 

\rithia  thjje  fire  limm  wlutever  thdr  ai«mio  neir 
wooden  buildinfi  may  be  eonttrueted.  Wooden  buildina 
•Iready  there  ue  not  dlHurbed;  but  when  »  fnune  bdU- 
ing  M  demohdied  another  wooden  one  euiaot  be  put  in 
Its  place,  and  even  when  a  buildjnf  of  meh  conatnietion 
18  to  be  remodelled  varioua  improvemente  in  the  intenal 
of  fae  prevention  are  required.  New  buildinga  within 
the  fire  hmite  must  be  fire-reeirting  to  a  reaeonable  degree.' 

A  satufactoiy  building  eode  ought  to  ckaiify  structures 
into  at  least  three  or  four  divisions,  and  should  mtdir 
«ie  conditions  under  which  buildings  of  each  typTmav 
be  erected.  The  exact  limits  of  each  division  maV  diffi 
somewhat  to  meet  local  conditions,  but  in  general  the 
classification  should  be  at  least  as  exacting  as  that  in- 
dicated  m  the  following  paragnphs.* 

AU  structures  that  are  located  within  any  sone  of  serious 
danger,  or  that  are  of  unusual  height,  or  that  are  used  for 
veor  hasardous  occupations,  or  that  serve  as  centres  of 
public  resort  (such  as  theatres  and  amusement  halls)  should 
be  of  fint^  construction,  that  is  to  say,  of  fire-resisting 
luatenals  tlm>ughout.  In  such  buildings  the  use  of  wood 
«  permitted  only  for  floor  surfacing,  inside  trimming^ 
wmdows  and  doors,  and  isoUted  furrin«k 

^PPf^tobealtogetliwtooipMilbuidtoovaliiinimoiu.    ThThLTm^ 


thaln 


teSMdfc 


Whm 


328    PBINOIPLM  OP  MUNIOIFAL  AOMINIinUTIOiv  \ 

Thm  eome  radinaiy  indutirial  and  mweaatils  l| 
ingB  not  loeated  in  lonei  of  qMoial  danger  Thaw  j 
usually  be  of  aaeond-elaM  eonatnietion,  that  ii  to  mi 
fire-raaiitmg  mateiiala  eioept  the  roof,  floon,  and  p 
tiona,  which  may  be  of  wood.  The  roof-oovojng,  howi 
■hould  be  non-combuatible.  No  buUdiiic  of  leeotfdH 
coiutnietioik  ahould  in  any  eaae  exeeed  fire  itoriM 
about  iixty-lhre  feet  in  heii^t.  i 

In  the  third  eatecoiy  an  dwellinp.  When  the  atni^ 
is  UMd  by  more  than  two  famiUee  (that  is,  when  it 
tenement  houw),  or  when  it  ia  uaed  for  both  nunai 
and  reridential  purposes,  it  should  at  least  be  of  secc 
dasseonstruetion;  but  when  its  use  is  restrieted  to  oh 
two  famiUes  it  may  reasonably  be  permitted  to  be  of  th 
class  construction,  that  is,  it  may  be  a  combustible  ba 
ing  as  regards  everything  except  the  loof^coveiing  j 
guttos.  1 

Hiere  may  be  additional  dasses  to  provide  t<a  spj 
requirements,  and  a  great  many  detailed  rules  are  neecM 
to  deSne  precisely  the  spedacations  demanded  l^  « 
type  of  construction.  These  rules  relate  to  thiekned 
walls,  character  and  strength  of  beams  and  girden,  mei 
of  egress,  arrangement  of  hallways,  and  a  hoat  of  otl 
mattOB. 

But,  whatever  the  classification,  there  are  some  thj 
which  must  have  careful  attention  if  serious  fire  hu-^ 
are  to  be  substantially  reduced.  In  every  large  dty,  j 
example,  there  are  eataia  sones  or  areas  of  spedal  dang 
The  factory  district  is  ore  of  these ;  the  warehouse  seeti 
is  another.  Regions  devoted  to  ^■,  storing  of  himb 
to  oU-refining,  or  to  ships  and  shipping  also  present  spec 
conflagration  hasards.  It  is  of  course  desirable  that  pj 
ticular  regulations  should  be  appUed  to  sudi  areas,  in  ad< 
tion  to  the  rules  that  cover  the  territory  within  the  i 
limits.  A  particularly  hasardous  inaustry  like  the  mii 
fadurt  of  explomves  should  obviously  be  exduded  from  I 


FiM  PMviNTiQK  AND  wnm  PwynoTicxN     m 

U,e  other  outrfde  the  cmH  fl»  Haft^  b„t .  c«IShiSh 
fiction  rf  .U  buat^  awM  into  c»i^g^  bi«d«K«Si 

fi»  h««Md  which  etirt.  within  th«  1^  ,ii»aB  of  SHoffl! 
pacta*,  o  the  buildiatt,  thdr  .Ini^  «d  hd^^X 

twe.  to  which  thqr  •»  denrted,  iiid  the  iil.tiT.31^ 
of  popuUtion  in  them,  ny,  ia,t  fetSTIf  1^^ 
becauBe  &e  prevention  m  a  eeienee  eime  to  •YertSkl- 

w self-evident  that  wherever  Uuie  bodiei  ol nem2««uJ« 
congregate  the  life  hM«d  in3SlSlS£  rSS 
or  .pedal  pubHe  „^tio«.  B^mnTS^i^Z 
than  matende  of  oonrtniction, TTiapJEit^JS 
m  reducing  this  element  of  danger.  "***'^*  »«« 

In  addition  to  the  general  nilei  that  app^  to  aU  build- 
mgs  withm  the  fire  Kmite,  „u»t  citie.  uSS^  p^ 
^c.al  reqmmnent.  for  thoee  •truetnimJSSrfcSTS 
nature  of  their  uee  and  oeenpauy,  an  Ha^  toam« 

We  from  a  fire  depeada  (l)  upon  the  n^riS?  with  ^ 
the  fire  BpnadM,  and  that,  again,  hing»W  therfi^ 
rtructure  of  the  building.,  (TZ^^^oi^^ 

the  facUitie.  for  e«»p^  and  (4)  upon  the  extent  ti  iSS 
the  occupant,  keep  their  head,  in  Ae  eie^t.  U^ 
buJding.  prcent  «,ch  natund  haurtfaTT^evl^S 

to  them.    Such,  for  example,  aie  theatre^  hall.,  faeto^ 

^o(  tlu.  ««t  the  ordinance  mniaUy  make  extra  T 
mands  m  the  way  of  fir^redrting  eoSction  andwi,^ 
^^tional  «feg«rf,  agiST^^te  )om7^  "^^ 

L?^  •»*  °^  *^*^  »"  *»^«  •»"»•  ■Wind  WMon  fw 
the«  ex«tence,  thqr  do  not  alway.  go  f  J*;^^  ;^ 


"^p 


Fin 

tioaia 

tliMtns. 


at    PRINOIPyH  Of  IfUNKIPAIi  AOmMISTEATION 

•ometimea  not  ngidly  eiil«ro«d.  Coaaaomfy  tiMgr  m 
tMr  ofigin  to  it  ue  ^odEiof  (Mweier.  The  Imiuhii  li 
qwM  the«tf«  firo  in  CJueafp  t<  u  y«uii  *go,  invoMi 
tko  kiM  <4  nearty  rix  huadivd  hvm,  faiqrimd  qM^il  • 
ngttktu»H  for  theatre*  ail  over  ikne  laad ;  and  horn  ttl 
to  time  fires  e»uain«:  large  Iom  of  life  ia  faetorke  hoM 
l(Hlciaf4iou8(«  or  Mhoolliouaes  have  in  (hm  my  aH 
another  been  atartinr-point-  >r  ^burate  fi  ^piwymth 
niiea  in  ragaru  to  r'  h  bu  iduip.  To  pve  zawe  than 
rooih  i(k>»  of  what  theae  ^edal  m   ^lui-am  4@ffland 

^  t^      aeope  m 
!  nile^  i 


all  the. 


scaiwfy  pdadble  here,    >ut  aom'  noti 
tenor  may  be  had  fron   a  8omui»Ty 
lating  to  ^afttires,  fa«t<Him,  ai^  teneK    .^ 

Am  a  rule  iitB  cit    ( rdin  neea  m   '  iwon^*   f 
ahall  be  of  fir  trda<<s  cor  itruete^'r    ^hat      to  say,  buih 
ineombustiblr  u^teriai^     ^mK^  >u  ;  bui,  dince  the  aooMi; 
profMTtiee,  a&i  othe    oo  annot  easily  be  mdm 

incorabiurtible,  strict  rale^  ai  ..  '  down  to  prevent  pm 
and  diaaBier.  Th^  exita  mu4  be  adequate  in  nn^te 
earily  acc^ble  ahrays  lii^ted,  idainly  marind,  ai 
their  h)eation  in  ated  on  >■  programme.  A  euitain  < 
ai^NiHoa  ox  other  tii«>r^  matonal  muct  be  provide 

to  cut  off  the  stage  fi  >ru  *he  au  tornim  at  a  numieBl 
nc  ice.  The  aaies  mu^  of  liberd  widtii,  Mid  oo  lai 
p&  ary  mete  me  be  set  m  than  kst  egreaa  be  obetmetat 
SIpeeifii  ndtji  rdat^  to  wiring  and  to  the  use  ci  itage  l^bl 
^f  ved  fire-^  iagttiduiig  af^lianoea  must  alwqm  I 
ke  t  a  reii^tiQjeK,  in  some  cities  the  theatres  miHt  I 
equ.  'ed  witi  automatic  sprinklers;  and  it  ii  soiaetfaii 
required  tat  a  firei  a  shtdl  be  present  at  every  psM 
performsn  ".  Usual!  *'  provirion  is  that  no  tiieil 
i^iaU  obtain  its  licena^  util  all  thoe  rules  have  beenetM 
fdied  with.* 


*  The  fawt  diort  dJieowhrn  of  tliis  matter  ia  to  b*  foimd  ia  tht  i 
on  "Th«aitrM"  in  J.  K.  IMU«'t  Firt  PnwrMmi  ami  Fin  Fntmtb 
(N«*  "^  -rtc  1013).  pp.  flQ7-7aO. 


fiM  PMvmrioN  AND  warn  mnrnnum    »i 

Thaw  an  §ko  numerous  nim  lookinf  to  tiM  mfwUiui 
(rf  fire  in  f«ctoriei.    Even  when  tlie  dty  doee  aot  iapoN  f^P 

them,  the  uiroranoo  itttharitMe  insiit  upon  their  obierwM.  Ji^ 
uader  penalty  of  luoh  inoreMed  r»tee  thnt  n«»tn«riS». 
tones  hMten  to  conform.    FiittHslMi  oonetruction  is  de- 
mwuied,  com,«dng  standwrd  wateMight  floon,  fin  doon 
«»d  shutters  of  motiO,  window,  of  wiiod  ^tmgk  wo- 
mon  m  the  way  of  fij«eiip«,  ^  devntow^lSS 
mth  fi»i,wof  waUs.    Tlien  thew  are  rwious  ruk.  iSaS 
t  ^  the  storage  of  inflammable  substanees,  to  the  rwdar 
-nmg  of  machinenr,  the  prompt  disposal  of  was^tiJo 
umbition  of  smoking  on  the  part  of  employee,; 'aaJ 
iwiaUy  these  aie  supplemented  by  restrict^  as  toX 
factory  a  own  flro^atinguishing  service-its  standnipe. 
ho»e,  ttd  chemical  e«tiaguidiers  -  and  by  a  muhi^ 
of  other  rq^titnM.*  —-••»••«» 

h^^^lw^il  ^it^  c^tia  thing  if  an  tSMmttt 

hou8«icouWbeoffiroi»rocrfeonstruotion;  for  thew  build- M. 

p  lurniah  far  more  than  their  proper  share  of  the  city's  2S 

-«.  and  eve;  conflagration  in  the  tenement  sone  is  likrfy 

volye  some  loss  of  life.    But  a  requiiement  thiViS 

ente  muft  be  buSt  of  fire-wasting  material  would 

-eatjr  to  their  cost  and  thus  necessitate  an  increase 

M,  besides  putting  a  damper  on  the  normal  course 

buUdmg  operations.    Even  the  most  «dent  fi^ 

M  that  At  the  same  tmie  there  are  mai^  things,  diort 
1^3 1  fi«^«>ofi«f,  that  ought  to  be  iLhrted  «p^ 
heea».of  aU  new  tenements,  that  is  to  say,  in  auK 
mgs  which  are  designed  to  house  mow  than  two  U^ 
Theu^ maximum  height  should  be  limited;  Miming  tentv 
ments  BhouW  be  separated  by  fire  walls;  ^ 

hallways  should  be  shut  off  from  fii«  cor  ^ 

Hving  rooms.    This  last  feature  is  impoi 
where  a  tenemimt  fire  may  start  it  aiwa, 

•  See  J.  K.  IMtac  |PW«  Awmtfm  vnd  Fin  P 


of 


332     PRINCIPLES  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINIffTRATION 

the  haUway,  which  thereupon  serves  as  a  great  ehim 
canying  the  flames  dear  up  to  the  roof.  Agam  a 
about  one  quarter  of  aU  tenement-house  fires  are'fo 
to  have  their  origin  in  the  cellar,  it  is  desirable  to  ii 
upon  a  fire-resisting  floor  on  the  street  level,  with  oi 
ings  properly  guarded.  The  e:  >erience  of  New  York  ( 
since  the  great  tenement-house  law  of  1901  went  i 

effect  proves  that  buildings  of  this  type  can  be  made  rea« 

ably  safe  against  conflagration  without  being  subjected 

drastic  requirements  in  the  way  of  fire-resisting  consti 

tion,  provided  that  ceUan,  common  haUways,  roofs,  coim( 

«ttd  oUier  vukerable  points  are  weU  protected.    Dur 

tiie  eight  yean  from  1901  to  1908  inclusive  about  forty-! 

hundred  tenement  houses,  aU  of  them  built  in  conform 

with  the  new  rules,  were  erected  in  the  borough  of  Mi 

Hattan,  providing  accommcJations  for  approximately  h 

a  imlhon  people.    In  not  one  of  these  buildings  has  th( 

yet  been  a  single  bad  fire  or  one  involving  loss  of  life » 

n.«fo«.        V    "*.*^'  "  ^  e^«y  other  field  of  prevention,  it 

^TuSt  f  "«^  «*««'  to  "lake  rules  than  it  is  to  enforce  them.    E 

ptmatfeo    forcement  is  largely  a  matter  of  spending  money    ' 

make  rules  costs  a  city  very  KtUe;  to  put  them  in  foi 

always  costs  a  great  deal.    Hence  it  is  that  the  task 

often  turned  over  to  the  inq>ectorB  of  the  dty's  buiktii 

department,  to  the  fire  chief ,  or  to  the  poUce,  all  of  who 

have  quite  enough  to  do  without  this  additional  burde 

i:he  work  of  enfowing  the  fire-prevention  rules  is,  indee 

sufficiently  important  to  warrant  its  being  intrusted  to 

fecial  authority.    Whether  it  diould  be  given  to  a  bureaus 

the  reguhtt  fire  department,  or  whether  it  should  go  to 

special   fire-prevention   bureau   outside   the   departmea 

does  not  much  matter.    The  main  thing  is  that  the  n 

sponsibiBty  for  enforcement  should  be  laid  definitely  upo 

offidals  who  have  this  work  and  no  other  to  do.    Toleav 

such  matters  to  the  regukr  building  department  of  tb 

•  Uwrraoe  VaUhr,  tfMufoy  A^«r»  (N«w  T«fk.  WW),  pp.  Ul^Iia 


WRB  PREVENTION  AND  im  PBOTECTION       333 

city  is  to  invite  certain  l«ity.  Obviously,  too,  the  work 
cannot  be  weU  done  without  a  good^  ap^rop^n 
from  the  pubhc  fund.  It  i.  only  by  inspection  St  eC^S 
of  the  rules  c«i  be  detected ;  and  inspection,  to  be  ^rt^ 
anything,  n««rt  be  frequent  and  thorough.  But  fre^^t 
and  thorough  uuipection  mean,  that  a  coips  of  slritful  Z 
weU-paid  mspectors  must  be  employed,  and  here  i.  where 

t  Sf7  "**  "^y  "^"^"^  "~*"y  halt :  the  authori- 
t  es  hesitate  to  spend  money  to  secure  the  enforcement 
of  rules  which  piopertyK>wners,  in  disregard  of  their  own 
b«t  mtereste,  wem  often  so  anxious  to  evade.  A.  a  nT 
therefore,  either  too  httle  ddUed  in.pection  is  pro^SS' 
or^n  the  other  hand  the  inspecton,  a^7o««  for^J^ 

S^ess       ^~'''     *^*^'"*  ^"^  ^"  knowledge  "aTS 
fh.^!I!^""^.^*^"P"***  ^  educating  the  people  up  to 

this  direction  during  recent  yearn.    This   campaign  S  *--» 
pop^  instruction  ha.  foUowed  a  variety  TST  ^ 

the  first  pUMse,  it  ha.  been  carried  on  by  the  is«,e  of  paffl^ 
pWets  and  eaflet.  which  contain,  in  p4y  fo^,^ 

agamst  vanou.  dangerou.  practice..     The«  pib^SS 

Z.Z^  '"t  "^'^**^  ^y  the  city*.  fir^re^Z; 
department  or  by  »me  unofficial  authority  UkT^^ 
boani  of  tn«le  or  the  chamber  of  conmierce.  anSe 
heets  containing  a  lirt  of  «mple  admonitior^^in^iJ 
ZZ  ^""T^J^  <«^»>uted  fn,m  houTto^^uS  S 

method  that  ha.  apparently  produced   fruitful  remit.. 

Zth^^^^  t  f  "•'^  "^"^*  of  space  to  the  wbjeet 

r^tnton^'^^Z"^-  Editorial,  ami  article,  on  S 
P^ention  ap^  frequently  in  the  journal,  of  aU  the 
^r  nties  FWUy,  and  most  import«it,  thew  i.  Z 
worU^ng  done  jJongthi.  line  in  the  public  .ehoob.  mZ 
city  school,  now  have  fire  drill,  from  time  to  time,  in  mS 


884     PRINCIlPLn  OF  MUNICIPAL  AIXMINIBTIUTIQN  3 

that  the  pupils  may  be  trained  to  move  out  in  orderly  fa^ 
if  a  fire  should  ever  break  out  in  the  school  buUding- 1 
m  connection  with  these  drills  some  instruction  inl 
elementary  principles  of  fire  prevention  may  be,  audi 
quently  is,  given.  If,  for  example,  the  boys  and  girii 
impressed  with  the  idea  that  every  match  is  a  potea 
conflagration,  and  that  the  utmost  danger  is  involved 
the  use  of  it,  —that  aU  fires  ar«  of  the  same  sise  wl 
they  start,  but  that  not  aU  have  the  same  proportion 
few  mmutes  later,  — they  are  sure  to  carry  the  less 
home  with  good  results.  It  may  also  be  suggeatedj 
passing,  that  the  absolute  prohibition  of  the  dangnl 
strike  anywhere  "  match,  if  it  could  be  accomplished,  wd 

reduce  our  annual  fire  losses  by  more  than  the  whole  ooud 
pays  for  its  matches.  In  addition  to  the  regular  fiie  dii 
an  annual  fire-prevention  day,  set  apart  for  special  I 
Btruction  in  this  field,  is  observed  in  many  schools  wl 
appropriate  exercises ;  and  in  some  places  the  day  is  dsg 
nated  for  observance  not  only  by  the  schools  but  by  | 
whole  community.  There  is  little  doubt  that  this  ei 
paign  of  education,  if  continued  for  a  suflkient  lengtitl 
time,  wiU  greatly  reduce  that  part  of  our  annual  fire  j 
which^  IS  due  to  ignorance,  apathy,  and  personal  lug 

■lnipMldii(oltU.flMnp«bBaaditonnwi^MMdMBUM.«J 


raa  wuviNTiON  and  rbi  fhomotion     886 

™«  raoB^BononoN  imPAMaatn 
In  spite  of  aU  the  ptognn  that  mav  h«  m.j^  • 

fore,  for  oijiniMtioM  and  m&^th^i  Z,  Tl'.  "?* 
when  they  am,     rhi^.^!ZrT  ^  *^  ''™""  «fc«n 

companies  were  organi^dluL^s^ot^r^r! 
fire  of  1686,  aad  one  of  their  eMlylXiSl  J«fv  *^* 
of  a  fire-%hting  brittdT  WW^  " **" "~*^ 

building  itlLed  kTSf t.ii  ,  .*  ~"P"y  insured  a 
and3  co^y  oo^ i/  S^*"  «inouncing  the  fact, 

u.  the  buiid;r^r^srit^r.:rs*r.^L^ 

In  course  of  time  the*  y,rio^  ^^^j^T^"^^' 
"-Hdated,  but  the  ^CZ^^l^^^^;^ 
mamtamed  and  naid  ttm  i«,  ♦uT^^  "wvioe  waa  s^l 

I. «.  n..  rilSf.^  So^  STZZ^^ 

Bcmce  as  a  munieinAl  mm*^J^^       7  *™  pnvate 

•Tf  th.  rotate  M^  i.  JS  r  .JX.'^ 


336     PMNCIPLM  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINI8TIUTI0N 

were  either  abolished  altogether  or  used  only  to  supple 

the  work  of  the  regular  professional  forces.    The  ol 

wag  brought  about  partiy  by  the  increase  of  cities  in 

and  in  fire  hasard,  and  partly  by  the  introduction  a 

steam  fire-engine,  which  required  skilled  handling. 

^  various  cities  of  continental  Europe  the  fire  bri 

5221^  IS  either  whoUy  or  partly  under  state  control.    In  I 

ofgjto.    for  example,  the  rigiment  de  npeun-pompien  is  an  int 

-    "»■       P»rt  of  the  regular  army,  and  is  under  the  direction  ol 

prefect  of  pohce,  who  owes  his  appointment  to  the  nati 

government.    English  and  American  cities,  on  the 

traiy,  leave  the  problem  everywhere  in  the  hands  of 

municipality.    In  London  the  firfr-protection  msenn 

as  has  been  said,  under  the  control  of  the  County  Cw 

«ttd  IS  managed  by  one  of  the  councU's  standing  commiti 

tiie  immediate  direction  of  the  fire  brigade  being  in 

hands  of  a  chief  who  is  chosen  by  the  council;   aw 

other  English  cities  the  municipal  councU  is  also  the  i 

trolling  organ  in  this  branch  of  local  administration.* 

Amenca,  on  the  other  hand,  fire  fighting  is  looked  upoi 

a  special  administrative  function,  and  is  usuaUy  oonsig 

eith»  to  a  single  appointive  head  of  the  departmeni 

to  a  board  of  fire  commissioners. 

Among  the  largest  cities  of  the  United  Stotes,  J 
York,  Chicago,  and  Boston  famish  examples  of  the  sin 
commissioner  plan.  In  New  YoA  the  fire  commissu 
18  appomted  by  the  mayor,  without  confirmation  by  i 
other  authority.  He  holds  office  for  no  specified  t( 
and  may  be  removed  at  the  mayor's  discretion.  InCUa 
the  head  of  the  fire  department  is  chosen  by  tiie  mayor 

m  Boston,  but  there  the  appointment  does  not  beoonv^ 
unless  approved  within  thirty  days  by  the  stote  <Mimm 

™{^  *  ""ff?****^  <*  *"■  'nt^  flf  sdadidstnitioB  te  eaffi&S  a 


TO!  PMVINTION  AND  FIBI  PBOTBCTION       837 

conmuarion.    hago  dties  that  nudntain  *he  bo^  «- 
are  Baltimore,  Detroit,  and  San  JVandL     rT^  ^^ 
three  commi«one»,  Detroit^lTFS:.  ?^~*?  ^ 
four;maUcaae8theiawr»Liw*f~*'^  *«■ 

the  other  dtie.  of  ZunSSd^tiL'r^"-  ^^"« 
and  some  the  other;  the  t^ttc^^^iiyrT" 

Jonof  ringle-headed  control,  parta^^ITheh^Jr^ 
In  the  smaller  dtiea  th«  lv».^«i  ^^m.  ^"^'"Ke*'  centres. 
mainly  beca^^ri.^^  ^^^f"  "^^^^hat  popular, 

^on  type  of  cl^LCk^i^^  *  "^"^  ^'  *^«  «>«*■ 
board  caXi;!  t^  p^^  TlJ^  ^"*.^'  *^* 
of  public  safehr  u  »lZ!^  ?  "°*^®  commissioner 

in  -ome  cities  tlT^Tnoi  SS^tl£i"  ''"'""* 
ment.  On  the  whole  ♦l.-Zlt!^  .  «>mim«8ion  govern- 
most  inthT^o^t'^^r'''^^^^^ 

the  city's  P.^4%!i:sr^nns: '%  ^ 

not  be  repeated  here.*        "^  •»^"»  «««^lie.«  they  need 

HOW  nam  omPAMmmm  an  osoanizid 
department.    The  JraA  !SS  oW»ni»tian  of  the  firo  i»*y».i« 

«nd  records,  the  atW^*?^  ^T  f""^*^'  iaq>«5tion, 

four  l^^'  ^  ^^,  ^^  *^*»  it.  duties  among 

the  ch^?**v    A     "**  ^«««w>rt,  them  is  the  buiwTrf 

«hicf  of  the  department,  which  i.  eoncemed^t^ 


888    PRINOIPLIB  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINI8TRATiaK 


-a 


Thedktri- 
btttlonof 

tone. 


aettud  operation  of  fire  fighting.    Next,  the  bureau  o 
prevention,  established  in  1911,  sees  to  the  eanyiai 
of  the  elaborate  fire-prevention  rules  prescribed  by 
law  or  by  city  ordinances.    Hiird,  the  bureau  of 
bustibles  enforces  the  laws  and  ordinances  relating  U 
manufacture,  storage,  sale,  and  use  of  fireworks,  gasi 
and  other  highly  inflammable  matoials ;  and,  finally, 
bureau  of  fire  marshals  keeps  record  of  all  fires,  their  ( 
and  origin  when  ascertainable,  and  the  value  of  pnq 
destroyed.    The  fire  marshak  attached  to  this  fourth  bu 
also  investigate  all  suspicious  fires.    Each  of  the  bui 
is  in  charge  of  a  chief  or  inq)ector  who  is  chosm  imder  ( 
service  rules,  and  each  cUef  has  various  grades  of 
ordinates  tmder  him. 

By  far  the  larger  part  of  a  fire  department's  foree  is  i 
up  of  the  officers  and  men  who  do  the  actual  work  d 
fil^ting ;  those  who  belong  to  the  other  bureaus,  the 
irtu)  do  the  woric  of  inflection  or  keep  the  records,  i 
but  a  naall  percentage  of  the  whole.  These  latter,  n 
ov«r,  are  located  chiefly  at  the  department's  headquai 
whoeas  the  fire-fighting  fon»  is  divided  into  units 
scattered  throughout  the  entire  city.  The  uniformed  I 
of  firem^i  in  New  York  Gty  includes  nearly  f<H^ 
hundred  officers  and  men,  which  is  twice  the  number  on 
pay-roll  of  the  London  department.  New  York  maini 
its  fire  dquurtment  at  a  cost  of  about  seven  million  do 
per  year;  in  London  the  cost  is  only  about  a  mi 
and  a  half,  or  less  than  one  quarter  of  New  York's  oul 
The  New  York  brigade  responds  to  about  fifteen  thmu 
alarms  par  year,  whereas  in  London  the  figure  averagei 
tween  four  and  five  thousand.  In  every  city  the  unifor 
force  is  oq^sed  into  battalions  or  companies  on  a  • 
military  jdan,  at  least  one  company  being  allotted  to  e^ 
fire  dktriet  or  i»«cinct.  These  precincts  difF«r  in  i 
according  to  the  nature  and  value  of  the  property  ti 
protected;  abuainess]^feeinetwi]lbesmidlinam,a8d 


tloaafaiM 


TO!  ITUVBHTION  AKD  fIBI  PBOnOTION       880 

ban  dirtrict  muA  l»,v»J     The  oompany  hewiquwtei.  in 
ewh  precmct  i.  the  fire  •Ution,  which  ahould  be\o  locftted 

'         ual  eomplement  for  eaeh  fire  etfttioa  ie  »  eaptain 

"  .*     'mpany  of  from  ten  to  fourteen  men.    Seven  men 

ought  .o  be  on  duty  at  aU  timet,  and  a  considerable  maidn 

must  be  left  for  men  who  are  off  duty  or  disabled     Tb» 

captain  is  ia  command  of  his  aution  and  al«>  in  ohane  of 

h«  company  when  at  firee.    He  may  or  may  not  himi  a 

beutenant  as  second  in  command.    Other  members  <rf  the 

company  are  the  engineer,  with  an  assistant;  two  drivenk 

one  for  the  engine  and  another  for  the  hose  conveyance^ 

and  two  or  moie  hoeemen.     In  emeigendes  the  driven 

may  also  act  as  extra  hosemen.    When  a  hook-and^der 

equipment  «  attached  to  the  station  it  ha.  its  own  eom- 

pany,  with  dnver  and  men;  but  these  are  also  under  the 

captam's  jurisdiction. 

In  most  dties  of  the  United  Stetes  the  fire  company 
forms  a  smj^e  platoon  and  the  gieater  part  of  the  forael  i*.— 

^hl- kL^^J' •*  •"  **"*^    A  few  dtieThoweverrSi^  •^*-- 
«tabli«hed  the  twoiJatoon  system,  whieh  allows  abo^ 

each  day  at  home;  but  this  plan  is  not  veiy  sakiafaetoiy. 
for  it  decreases  the  effective  stroi«th  during  ni^tlboS 
when  b«i  fi,«  .„  1^  to  get  under  way/Sd  V^ui^ 
mcrea^  total  number  of  men  on  the  fo^  in  oSWgi" 
Zo^J^m:^^^^'    Mcwover,  aino.  the  nS 

for  inspection  or  for  spedal  details;  and,  further,  H  is  said 

P^wds  of  eadi  day  to  go  whero  and  do  what  thiy  please.' 
^^  two-platoon  plan  natural^  involves  enlaiged  enendi- 
^  for  fin  protection;  yet  so  penistently  ia  the^JrtM 


niiagifiiit[ii"nrmri 


AdvMiteaM 

of  oVv* 


340    PRINCH»LI8  or  MUNICIPAL  ADMINlVnUTIOK 

being  ui«ed  on  the  dty  MitlioritiM  by  tbe  fiiemeii  mm 
political  friends  that  in  the  ooune  <rf  time  it  ie  Hkeiy 
widdy  adopted. 

In  moat  of  the  laicer  Ameriean  dtiea  firemen  aie  m 
under  dvil-eerviee  rules  after  being  subjected  to  a 
phycdoal  ex&mination  and  some  dementaiy  mental 
Many  dtiee  have  also  a  dass  of  hdpers  or  subst 
known  as  eall-mui,  who  work  at  their  regular  voeatioi 
may  be  summoned  to  assist  the  profesdonal  foroe  a 
time.  When  tiiere  are  mioh  men  it  is  oustomaiy  to  r 
the  reguUr  force  from  theL*  ranks.  Men  who  are  tak 
through  dvil-service  channels  without  pievious  eipei 
as  eaU-men  are  usuaUy  rated  as  probationen  for  a  ei 
time,  ordinarily  for  dx  months  or  a  year. 

Those  dties  which  pursue  the  practice  of  dioodng 

men  under  a  properly  organised  dyil-eerviee  lystem 

found  the  plan  highly  advantageous.    Criticisms  ar« 

quent,  of  course;  but  they  usually  rest  upon  a  false  a 

of  what  the  system  aims  to  aecomplidi,  althou^  thsy 

at  times  result  from  some  ill-advised  administration  o 

rules  themsdves.    No  system  of  dvil  service  can  guan 

the  sdection  of  the  best  mm  among  those  who  n^fy, 

qualities   demanded   of   an   efficient   fireman  — oool 

courage,  sound  judgment  —  cannot  be  tested  perfect^ 

any  sort  of  examination  devised  by  human  bnins. 

that  the  examinera  oanhopetodois,fiiBt,toweedoiri 

cleariy  unfit  among  applicants,  and,  seeondl^,  to  ■ 

from  the  remainder  those  who  seem  to  be  best  equmpst 

the  work.    In  fighting  fires  brawn  is  important ;  hear 

ngid  phydcal  test.    But  brains  are  also  needed ;  thsn 

mental  capadty  diouW  be  tested  too.    Whether  a  man 

courage  and  a  levd  head  cannot,  of  ooune,  be  asesrtsi 

in  any  formal  way ;  tiiese  qualities,  so  supreme^  iamofl 

m  the  firemen's  work,  only  disdose  themsdves  whai 

emergency  arises.    On  the  etiier  hand,  the  sdeetitt  <rf  i 

men  by  any  nonrcompetitivo  qrstem  is  pnwtiea^  mi 


nam  nMvmmw  jam  webm  wrnvrmmos     m 
H^HT-J^"**^  <l«|Nirt««»«t  with  lo«a  poKtie.. 

beracniitediathJtwAy  ■•"^  «*•»»• 'owe  ilioukl 

tl^«ove«eat,S:Sj^oS^^ 

<rf  fighting  firet,  tlie  n^Mitetion  of  pewjaToi^M^ft! 
"«ke,  «ui  tlie  method.  <rf  »«tii«  SSil^ 

«d  other  Uv  dtk*    -ni-nS^  SSTit^' 
which  no  firenuui  eu  kun  ft««WL-^  T??\,    "**"^ 

would  be  Btnuiie  iaOmd  if,  after  all  the  iBm«Z«. -Tl 
1"«1  in  fighting  ll«.  of  ev^^'^  ~^*^3^^ 

rules  showing  how  niiie  tMn«^««!hr«,      I?      "^'^^ 
done:  and^^wLrS!  !--?  ^*  "^  *'^*  not  to  be 

f>  put  It  out,"  writ-  one  of  them,  ".^noi  tl^ 

•pphcationofthomo.tiei     ilcprindpke.»'»       "'^*^ 
io  fi^t  »  iire  of  luq^  oonddewble  else  reouin.  m««. 

grouped  by  dietriet.  ^uo  buttaH^as.  eS^^d^S^TJ!? 

«  more  oompuiiai.    A  *i««Sli!Z.     »  «»t«hniig  fi¥» 

wi^wnefc    A  seoosd  alum  wlb  out  the  entin 


Tk*dW> 
pliMaffln 


842     PKOfOmM  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADiCINnTR4TI0N 

Uttelkni,  and  a  fOMnl  abm  in  a  large  dty  nay  «al 
Mveral  baUalioQa.  If  Um  brigMle  ki  cffidoit^  otpu 
^  oqptain  <tf  eadk  eonq^angr  kiMwa  hit  |daee  in  tha  p 
iUmtegy  of  fire  fighting  and  aeta  aeeordingiy,  mbieet, 
erar,  to  eueh  oiden  aa  ha  may  when  in  aetion  neeivt 
the  battalion  chki.    When  several  cittee  and  Umm, 

with  ita  own  fire  brigade,  are  situated  oloie  together,  aa  I 
metnqixditan  district  of  Boston,  arrangonenta  an  t^^^ 
the  qntematic  oo^^mation  of  the  various  fire-fitting  fi 
in  the  evoit  oi  a  oonflagratk>n  i^  any  point  in  the  « 
area.  The  phuis  always  aim  to  secure  without  delqf 
maximum  fire-fighting  strength  pt  the  fire,  while  diitri 
ing  the  rest  of  the  avaikble  forces  in  such  t»y  aa  to  1 
no  portion  ci  the  territory  uneovered.  Sueh  eo<^Mntiei 
course,  involves  the  use  of  standard  hose  eoapUnsi,  hyda 
and  othor  interdiangeabla  iq^pUaneea  Inr  all  the  Mm 
in  the  district. 

In  any  defwrtment  organised  on  a  military  baiiib 
dphne  to  innire  the  immpt  obedienee  of  aU  otdmB  i 
come  from  suporiors  is  imporative.  It  ia  thneloia  m 
sary  that  every  fire-fighting  force  shaU  have  a  code  of  siB 
rules  and  that  every  member  shall  know  than  thoiwi 
FnrUiermore,  sinee  aiqrthing  that  lea^  to  ooiffiet  flf 
thority  or  to  a  frequent  mirandastanding  of  mdan  is  £ 
to  disdidine,  it  follows  that  ignoranee  or  '^tirtrtiliiBft 
the  rules  should  be  dealt  with  firmfy.  Um  moit  pneliH 
plan  ia  to  put  the  entire  matter  of  pumshment  for  bnac 
of  discipline  into  the  hands  of  the  eommiMioner.  Inm 
cities  tiiqr  may  be  dealt  with  by  him  direetly;  in  In 
communities  it  is  better  to  have  them  handled  through 
medium  of  a  board,  appointed  by  him  from  among 
c^Seers  of  the  deiMrtmoit.  What  there  w  evidsooe  to 
heard,  the  latter  course  is,  indeed,  the  onl^T  <ur  <■•• 
the  recMnmwidations  of  the  board  the  fnnwromriatt  pMil 
wheth^  it  be  dqmvatioii  of  pay,  mupmmtm,  or  ^mmm 
can  be  awarded.    Under  dvil^wrviee  ruka  it  ia  irnHw" 


with  tt»  didJwtlr^SZiL^f''' Tr"  ••  «'»9»«« 
P"I»^  t«  maitoalSSM.  \SS.  h  k.  tti^ ft*^  '■ 

w  own.  BUT  b.  maila  mrf.u.  "r^"™»«W"  with  h... 

_'.*•_ diMM,  "III- .,. ^  ..  •owaea  oinet^  ta 


n«Lao»«s 


r.  IMS). 


•M  naacmm  or  MxnnotfML  ABHOnwnumxm 


tlMhydnat;  otlMrwiM  Um  hjdiaiil  Ceedi  tlM  i^Im  i 
the  Utter  n^pUM  tte  pnHun.*  A  food  l^teBt 
Mpply  tkiw  or  tvn  four  m^am.  To  innii*  thiir  bi 
thny  n§dy  tot  Mrrieo  H  if  iiiBMiiiy  to  iiMpoet  l^dn 
frwittoitly,  md  in  northon  dttoo  thqr  an»t  bo  pioloi 
CMcfolljr  ofidiit  froeiiiic.  Fraooi  liydniiti  bavt  pon^ 
tibe  worii  <rf  the  fin  daportaMot  oa  too  inai^  nnmrioM. 

Tbc  Heom  fin^igiM  hao  be«i  braugbt  to  »  bigb  Uti 
ard  in  Amorioft.  ISkiglMt  of  grett  power  nd  niiibi 
ure  oa  the  Buwiwt  ftt  fWMHMbfe  prioM.  TobewtWMl 
for  an  pidce  of  work  mi  flmhw  ilwuld  not  be  too  biv 
leBttimeieloetin|rttiiigitktoMtk»;  itdioiildbei 
tomekefteun(^UT;  and  ft  eboukl  be  oepable  of  pa 
ing  from  eight  hundri  d  to  a  tHwitaiH  pdk»e  of  wat«  ] 
minute  throui^  tbree  or  more  linee  of  hoae  at  a  preMue 
from  iizty  to  eervB^Hlve  poumb.    latemal-eQmbaitJ 

vttgines  are  eomiag  into  uee  to  aome  eocleBti  but  the  atii 
engiae  itiU  dominatee  the  fleld.  At  a  meam  of  ha«ll 
enginca  and  other  ibe  i^ppaiatui,  however  there  ia  mu 
to  be  aaid  for  the  gaadine  motor.*  Hie  ho)  ^  •litaia  vehi 
ta  loa^  ground  aolaataa  to  make  it  likely  >  I.  itit;  eoui 
of  a  deeade  (h>  ao  all  fire  apparatua  wiB  be ;  ^  WT^pt: palk 
Nfrt  csBfy  h  Om  oortt  <rf  maintenanee  amaSer,  >  oi  iho  mo< 
engine  travela  mueh  more  impidly,  and  ita  dii>«r  Ja  an 
aUe  for  other  wwk  when  he  reaehea  the  fire.  The  eaie 
at  leaat  five  horaee  attadied  to  every  atation  invohea 
great  deal  of  dJaagreeable  work,  and  the  f aet  tint  tiM  Msati 
haa  a  atable  oonneeted  with  it  ^aaahrayabeen  an  vblsetie 
able  feature  in  reaidential  neighboriiooda.  Evmy  eagii 
ii^ieth«  drawn  by  mt^r  or  by  hmaee,  haa  a  tender  to  ear 
the  hoee,  uaually  a  th>uaand  feet  of  it;  and  it  to  ahn^ 
aeeompanied  l^  a  wagm  bearmg  fud,  toda,  esEtm  pari 
•Tba*  fa  Ml  JatwMlliM  iHiiimjiib  of  ttfa  nUwt  Is  ttw  B«Mr< 

*°  T  Tr>iit|  "Mnitmi  n»nlii|iBmii  In  ftmwJwiilluluilkiil— 


A>n>  ran  nioTionair    ais 


BOM  qI  thtold- 


ikm 


^  «b«  «k«^«a 


*»«*  <rf  •  OkPtbb  eaauMMr  *kuiuli      *?^    "  *• 

nmw  the  dOaM  nd»  mt*  Jato  .  a»]|  wZTTiLrT 
««««.%.  of  Um  tok  rnnrnM  o.  .  IwTwmdT- «5 

■«  iidifat.,  bjr  meua  «(  «UA  *  •miilmw«i,,«r-i 


846     PRINCIPLI8  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINI8TIUTI0N 

ings,  are  in  use.  Ladder  tracks  are  eiunboiBome  at  b 
besides  taking  up  a  great  deal  of  room  in  the  stations,  t 
are  usually  the  last  pieces  of  apparatus  to  reach  a  i 
although  they  ought  logically  to  be  the  first.  Other  1 
saiong  appliances  go  with  them,  such  as  ropes  and  Ufe-n 
which  can  be  q>read  beuMth  windows  for  rescue  worit. 
The  ordinary  pumping  engine  works  at  a  pressure 
from  sixty  to  one  hundred  pounds  to  the  square  inch, 
this,  it  has  been  figured,  the  pressure  km  by  friction,  n 
the  type  of  fire  hose  now  commonly  in  use,  amounts  to  ab 
fourteen  pounds  for  every  hundred  feet  of  hose.  Witl 
hundred  pounds  of  pressure  at  the  engine,  then,  and  I 
hundred  feet  of  hose  in  use,  the  wi*»jmiim  stream  wh 
can  be  pUyed  through  the  standaid  (if-inch)  noszle  is  i 
much  more  than  eighty  feet.  The  horisontal  readi 
distance  of  the  stream  is  about  10  per  cent  less  than  1 
effective  height.* 


u  waru  NimBuiig  mc*  for  nady  tetwunM : 


40 
45 
00 
55 
00 
85 
TO 
75 
80 
85 
00 


353 
308 
370 
301 
303 
314 
325 
836 
346 
356 


85 

TO 
75 
80 
83 
86 
88 
00 
02 
04 
06 


50 
88 
88 
80 
73 
75 
77 
70 
81 
83 
85 


50 
66 

83 
88 
74 
81 
87 
08 
00 
106 
112 


56 

88 

TO 

77 

84 

01 

08 

105 

112 

110 

136 


80 

81 

04 

107 

13 

77 

03 

108 

130 

U 

86 

108 

118 

U4 

11 

06 

tis 

180 

147 

M 

108 

123 

141 

180 

II 

113 

183 

158 

174 

M 

120 

148 

165 

187 

» 

ISO 

153 

177 

301 

» 

138 

188 

188 

314 

S! 

140 

173  300 

337 

m 

m 

183  313 

341 

ram  privintion  and  Fm  PRoraonotr     347 


■MVMNWt* 

TABMOI 

^^^^^B 

MMM 

«Ml 

s 

107 

m 

190 

m 

IM 

m 

147 

m 

leo 

m 

174 

m 

187 

m 

aoi 

m 

214 

m 

237 

m 

241 

SPBCIAL  IlKB-FIORTINO  AFPUANCIB 

But  in  these  days  of  dcjr-acrapen  the  ordinary  oigine  or 
hydrant  preMures  of  aomething  like  one  hundred  pounds  Higiiima. 
are  not  enou|^;   even  if  thqr  were  doubled  th«y  would  SST 
stiU  be  inadequate  to  reach  the  upper  atories  of  a  great 
office  building.    Hence  the  largv  dties  an  installing  hi^ 
pressure  fire  services  for  use  in  the  business  districts.    This 
type  of  service  involves  the  establishment  of  one  or  more 
pumping  stations  located  outside  the  range  of  conflagration. 
At  these  sUtions  are  powerful  electrically-driven  pumps 
capable  of  producing  a  pressure  of  three  hundred  pounds 
or  more  to  the  square  inch.    From  these  pumps  run  »*^im 
of  steel  pipe  conducting  the  wator  under  high  pressure  to 
special  hydrants,  to  which,  when  occasion  demands,  the 
high-pressure  hose  is  directly  attached.    No  steam  fire- 
engine  is  needed ;  ea^h  hydrant  propels  three  or  four  straams 
to  a  height  of  nearly  two  hundred  feet.    But  streams 
thrown  more  than  one  hundred  feet  fnm  Uie  nossle  are 
rarely  effective  because  they  cannot  be  delivered  at  an 
angle  which  mH  throw  water  properly  on  the  flames.    The 
beat  stream  is  that  which  is  thrown  horiaontally,  or  nearly 
80,  and  its  effect  may  be  said  to  be  steadily  rfiminifh^  ^s 
the  upward  angle  increases.* 

The  experience  of  New  York  has  amjdy  demonstrated  the 
possibilities  and  advantages  of  this  high-pressurv  equipment. 
In  the  borough  of  Manhattan  th««  are  two  pumpingstations, 
which  take  their  water  supply  from  the  city  mains.  Each 
station  is  equipped  with  five  centrifugal  pumps,  each  capable 
of  delivering  about  thirty-six  hundred  gaUona  per  minute 
under  a  pressure  of  three  hundred  pounds.  The  pumps  are 
driven  by  directly  connected  induction  motors,  and  the 
^ectric  power  is  supplied  from  five  power  sUtaons  of  the 
Edison  Company,  dupUcate  sets  of  undergitMind  cables 
running  to  each  pumping  station.  The  stations  are  located 
'  EdwMd  F.  Cndnr,  fin  PrmmMun  (New  YoA,  1919),  9.  251. 


ThtNMT 
Yorii 


Hitfl-PNf 

■ui«Mr- 
vioMia 


848     PWNOIPLBS  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINIOTRATIOM 

outside  the  cone  of  posrible  conflagration  and  are  of  ii 
reawting  conrtnictica  throughout.    Prom  them,  in  gridii 

SS;Z '  "?J5^*  P;^  °'  '™"*  *^*»^«  ^  twentylfour  inS 
diam^et^,  feedmg  large  post-hydranta,  each  of  which  c 

Jupplyfivehnesofho«..    TTie  hydrani  are  «,  locatSfa. 

be  mtkn  convement  access  of  any  fire  in  the  district  p, 

tected  by  the  system.    Pressure  is  not  kept  on  aU  the  tin 

but  when  an  alarm  comes  in  from  the  danger  lone  ti 

pumps  are  started  and  a  pressure  of  one  hunSXndX«t 
five  pounds  is  had  in  less  than  a  minute,  the  maximum^ 
'^^  •Jj^-y -JcWeved  by  the  time  the  hose  connecSo. 
aremade  TJe  system  requires  hose  of  special  constructioi 
orjnaiy  fire  hose  wiU  not  bear  the  strain? 

Systems  of  high-pressure  staV^ions  and  mains  have  sk 
been  provided  in  several  other  cities,  though  on  a  i^ 

<^^  1^  "!'!!'*^**  Phikdelphia  has  used  iShigh-press* 
arrangements  for  ten  years  or  more;  BrooklyTSThin 
^mpment  since  1908  In  Baltimore,  San  Fril««,  Qe^ 
Und  Detroit  Buffalo,  and  elsewhere  «,ch  senriUs  «r 
ah^ady  completed,  and  other  Urge  cities,  inchiding  Br  i«, 
have  them  under  construction.  Boston  h«i  for  soL  yean 
maintamwi  a  salt-water  high-pressure  swvioe  eoverC; 
«nall  part  of  fbumness  district.  This  m««  is  s«^ 
by  the  city's  fin^boat  and  can  deliver  a  Isir  pressuwTbu^ 

gone  beyond  the  range  and  control  of  the  ordinary  engiiiM. 
Salt-water  systems,  moreover,  are  out  of  favor  wittibott 
property-owners  and  insurance  men  on  account  of  the  addi- 
taonal  damage  that  is  sure  to  be  done  to  the  contents  c* 
■tojM  or  warehouses  by  the  use  of  sea  water. 
J^e  employment  of  the  hi^-pressure  system  involve 

STk  L?T  ""  'r  ^^^  *^*  •*«*«-'  because  th. 
back-kick  of  a  nossle  at  three  hundnsd  pounds'  pressure  ii 

too  great  for  firemen  to  manage  in  the  ordinary  way.    Even 


FM  PRITINnON  AND  Flltl  PItOTICncm       349 

when  pUyed  &WB  tlw  gitwiid  th«K.  itewuM  require  a  tum^ 
nouleoratrqxNlataiMi.  To  guide  them  at  high  etevatioM 
the  water-toww  apparatus  haa  been  deviwd.  Thia  i«  an 
extenmon  framework  euried  on  a  truck  and  capable  of 
elevation  to  a  height  of  about  eighty  feet.  TTie  stream  can 
be  thrown  tnm  the  pinnaek  by  means  of  a  turret  nossle 
attached  to  the  fram«work;  but  the  fact  that,  even  with 
the  water-tower  in  senriee,  the  maximum  of  effective  play 
u,  lea.  than  tw»  hundred  feet  serve,  to  diow  how  hdplei 

a  fire  d^iartm«rt  must  be  when  fighting  from  the  outside  a 
fijemth*iqy«ritai,ofaveiyhighbuikiing.    The  only 

^ve  method  of  securing  saisty  a*  more  than  two  hui; 
dred  feet  above  tin  street  linaisfiretofalltomaketaU 
builduigs  rf  ab«Aite»y  unbumable  construction,  and  then 
toequip  them  with  a  standpipe  system  and  hose  on  each 
floor  80  thirtmapaert  fire,  may  be  dealt  with  .peedihr.  The 
rtandpipena.  fc«n  the  street  floor  or  the  basement  to  the  top 
ofthebttikfeng.  It  maybesuppliedwithwater  from  a  gravity 
or  a  pressure  t«yi,  or  it  may  nm^  be  provided  with  a  coi^ 

Mctaon  at  Ifci  street  level  to  wWeh  the  hose  may  be  attached 
by  the  firemen  on  thiir  airivai.  ^^ 

In  handling  fire,  at  or  near  the  water  fcwt,  aod  paiticu- 
b  ly  "»  lFJ»tttog«rt  IN.  en  vessel,  in  port,  the  ^b^ 
often  render,  good  service,  since  the  d«^  region,  with  its 
frame  p««  and  storehouses,  is  always  a  hasanious  «me. 
Every  large  «ty  that  hi.  any  shipping  owns  one  or  more 
of  hew  marine  fire^ghtwi.  TTie  fire-boat  is  a  vessel  of 
jJaUow  draft,  built^^,  «,uipped  wM  powerful  reci^ 

wcatmg  pumps  capable  el  delivirii^  «wwd  thousand  B*»B 

my  w  a  salt-water  siq»ply  if  Baoessary,bSk  can  also 
m2  *  ^  "^P""*  ^  '"*  ^"^  ^  »*•  ballast  comparts 
menu.  The  onlinanr  fi»4«at  i.  mamied  ,ri*h  a  com Jany 
consMtmg  of  captain,  tteutenant,  pilots,  enginasre,  stcC 
wd  from  eight  to  t«i  firemen.  The  appliance  ^  prewd 
Of  great  vahM  on  numerous  occasions,  because  H  caa  attadi 


iiii 


••"~^"™""-^- 


I 


FiwriMin 
■yitons. 


360    PRINCIPLBB  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATKW 

fins  in  quarten  which  the  ordiiuuy  engine  eould  u 
reach  with  any  d^ree  of  effeetivenew.  For  harbw  wn 
is  indispensable.  New  York  City  m>^y>fft|'t^|f  |^  f^^^  ^ 
boat«,  which  have  bem  oi^(anised  into  a  marine  divisia 
the  fire  department.  Other  oities,  including  Boston,  Quo 
Duluth,  &m  Francisco,  and  Seattle,  have  each  one  or  n 
fire-fighting  vessels.* 

So  much  dq>ends  upon  the  promptness  with  which 

fire-extinguishing  appliances  are  brou|^t  into  {day  t 

the  fire-alarm  qrstem  of  a  city  ou^t  to  be  as  neariy  perl 

in  constructi<m  as  mon^  and  skill  can  inake  it.    It  is 

perative  that  the  central  station,  which  contains  the  swit 

board  and  main  registering  apparatus,  shall  be  <d  absolul 

fire-resisting  construction  and  that  it  shall  be  located  o 

side  the  sone  of  possible  conflagration.    At  least  one  h 

dred  and  fifty  feet  should  separate  it  from  other  buildi 

on  all  sides,  otherwise  a  sufficiently  aggressive  fire  may  soi 

time  put  it  out  of  commission.    AlUiouf^  the  Natio 

Board  of  Fire  Underwriters  has  strongly  uiged  than 

quirements,  many  American  cities  fail  to  conform.    1 

best  place  for  the  fire-alarm  station  is  in  the  centre  of  a  e 

park,  but  public  sentiment  is  often  an  insuperable  obsts 

in  the  way  of  putting  it  thore.    A  deficient  fire-alarm  sysl 

constitutes  a  general  haaard.    It  may  perhaps  be  toleni 

vrhea  reconstruction  would  involve  a  very  heavy  outii 

but  the  city  takes  large  chances  in  putting  up  with  it. 

all  events,   whenever  replacements  are  undvtaken,  1 

standard  specifications  for  an  efficioit  fire-alaim  nyili 

which  are  now  at  the  disposal  of  cities  should  be  sl^ 

adhered  to.    It  goes  without  sajring  that  Uie  akuna-boi 

should  be  numerous,  easy  of  access,  plainly  marked,  a 

simple  to  use.    The  wires  should  be  undw  ground ;  i^  t 

r^^tering  apparatus  should  be  of  the  most  modem  and  m 

ful  construction,  for  it  is  a  delicate  affair  at  the  be 

•  W.  E.  Pftttonon.  "The  Fire  Boste  of  AaMriean  CitiM,"  in  M«m 
Jownal,  XXXV.  268-268  (Aogart  28,  1018). 


ma  PBIVINTION  AKD  nu  PROTBCTION       851 

getting  out  of  gMT  tutSfy  md  mpdxmg  oonstant  teitiii«. 
So  much  depend!  upon  its  relubOity  in  aU  emergencies  that 
to  save  money  by  retaining  an  obsolete  fire-alarm  system  is 
the  crudest  sort  of  false  economy. 

SUFPLBMIMTABT  IIRB  PBOTBCnON 

In  most  laige  manufaotuiing  planto  provisions  are  made 
for  private  fire-protection  systems,  in  order  that  complete  w«*»i 
dependence  need  not  be  put  upon  the  city's  service.  Such  """^ 
■ystems,  which  commonly  include  sprinklers,  pumps,  stand- 
pipes,  hose,  and  a  body  of  workmen  trained  to  use  them, 
have  often  proved  their  value  in  protecting  not  only  the 
property  most  directly  concerned  but  neighboring  interesto 
M  well,  a  sorioe  that  the  insurance  con^HUiies  rec(^nise 
by  making  rate  concessions.*  From  time  to  time  cities 
have  been  asked  to  subsidise  these  private  systems,  but  to 
do  this  wouW  be  to  establish  a  precedent  which  mi^t  lead 
to  large  abuses.  Rre  protection  is  a  service  which  the  dty 
should  perform  fully  and  freely  for  every  taxpayer;  what 
private  concerns  may  do  in  addition  should  be  at  their  own 
expense. 

Some  of  the  appliances  used  in  private  estaUiriunents, 
however,  deserve  more  than  a  passing  mention.  Chief  M^t 
among  them  is  the  automatic  sprinkler,  so  widely  used  in 
industrial  and  mercantile  structures  that  it  has  already 
foui^  Its  way  into  more  than  fifty  thousand  buildinn  in 
the  United  States.  The  system  involves  a  networic  of  pipes 
laid  just  below  the  ceiling  through  which  water  can  be  forced 
under  pressure  to  every  part  of  the  building.  Emphasis 
should  be  laid  upon  the  point  that  the  pipes  must  run 
everywhere —  in  the  basement,  the  attic,  under  the  stairs, 
even  m  the  eloseta  and  elevator  wells;  for  the  system  is 

^  ▼ow.,  v^iumto,  l»ia),  fl.  107-974;   ud  in  psit  vL  of  J.  K.  IMtM'a 
'w /Vmii««.  ««|  «r.  I^,«M««,  (N«w  York.  MM)?  ^ 


3S2 


PIIINClPLa  OF  IRmiCIPAL  ADMINlVnUTmi 


1.  Tha 


a.  Th« 

sutoaurtie 
'flraalwB. 


intendad  to  pat  ont  aa  indpint  lira,  not  to  deal  nitii 

after  it  hm  guned  keadway ,  and  ineipoit  firaa  appear  i 

freqneo^   in   ooMif-the^way   plaeea.    At  ateted  p« 

(uMially  a*  intervahi  of  eight  or  tea  feat)  aking  the  lU 

inpea  than  are  apiBkler^Mada,  iriiieh  ai«  aealed  orii 

arraaged  to  opea  a«  a  fiaad  hi^  tempanitiuv.    The  \ 

tore  JM  aeeonqiluiMd  hgr  the  uae  of  a  fuaiUe  Uak  of  li 

which  mete  irt  oae  haadrad  aad  fifty  degnea  Fahn^ 

or  more.    When  a  fire  bnaka  out  in  aay  part  of  the  bl 

»f^  heat  faaee  this  lade,  opeaa  the  orifice  neane^ 

fiHMB,  and  leto  tho  water  pour  oat.    The  water  ad 

m^  come  from  the  publie  maina,  if  the  pieaaue  thS 

hi|^  enoui^ ;  oyMmiee  it  comes  from  a  tank  in  tlw  b| 

ing,  or  from  a  paaap  which  starts  automatieaUy  wheneil 

sprinkksi^head  is  let  l«Mfc    In  large  buildin^i  the  4 

pressure  required  is  aboat  •  hundred  pounds.    TTie  eoi 

mstaiing  the  system,  apart  fnmi  the  ea^Mose  of  piovid 

w^er  prssnae,  is  estimated  at  from  three  to  five  doU 

for  eaeh  spriiAlei^MMKl ;  awi  eaeh  head  intHeeta  bom  fi 

to  oae  huBcfaed  squase  feet  of  floor  q»aee.' 

^^h  the  spriaider  aystem  usually  goea  the  imtsmj 
firealann.  lias  consists,  in  most  eases,  of  an  alarm  vid 
placed  on  the  qKJaysr  pqMs  aad  so  oonstrudsd  thai  i 
flow  of  water  throuf^  a  single  i^rinkler-head  wii  opsMi 
gong  or  transmit  mi  eloetiw  sigud  to  the  nearest  fin  stall 
The  automatic  alarm  is  mdly  an  nssnnlisl  nnnnmpaiiiwi 
of  the  sprinkler  i^stem,  ae«  only  beeauae  it  is  rtiaiisMJ 
notify  the  fire  station  at  the  ear&est  possible  momort,  | 
because  when  a  sprinkler-head  starta,  even  aa  the  naM 
an  accident,  there  is  no  known  automatic  davioe  for  aimi 
it  off.  Great  damage  may  thetefoK  remit  horn  HotM 
•her  a  small  fire  has  been  eatiagoiriied  by  the  spi^ 
unless  there  is  an  automatic  method  of  giving  an  ahtna^ 
having  the  valve  closed  by  hand.    fiipBri— ii  has  ifaa| 


'  1%*  ktMt  MMl  bMt  trwtiw  M  tUa  MblMt.  ah^^^ 
I.  G«rl*«  D«u,..  ^,rt«».«e  tf^,^  p522i  S!^^ 


ma  PsivBmoN  and  nam  vmyrmmoH    ass 

that  the  oomfaiiuitfam  ol  q>riiikkr  uid  akim  k  ni»^  ^ 
P«t.  of  the  l^iiWir^nS^^ 

tu>n^    ^ -PrfnUw  v»»«,  if  u«d  in  InrfUm-to 

the  tempeato  toee  bdow  the  fiwrf-TJ^faT*^ 

murt  lejjve  the  p^  empty  witil  rZ^JCl  «M^ 

^tedmech«fanwhieh  ol»e«  ^to^Z^Bi^^ 
mU  no  .ffonl  •  p«jaelifl.  ^^^^  J^^^LST^ 
gmtxons,  or  ac^intt  ««•  thrt  have  been  lUlo^lo^S; 
h^w.yjn««n.pri«kWpi«tofthebS    a^ 

and  tibtaL  uL!r!r  ir  ,'*^'  *«  unproteeted  oevnten 
ana  tsUea,  iMie  etooka  of  goode  that  may  be  n^lZ 
water  they  eometimeB  do  i^ ^mJ^L^i!^  ^ 
ocaUon.  Sprinkler  ...tem.  TJT^^^  ^ 
mecha««n«;  thegrmuel  be««nrt«»^  i42;^ 

Jl^"^  "^^  P»*>ew«i  in  AMmict^  dtie.  »  «»irtlwlv 


ii: 


864    raiNOIPLIS  OF  MUNIOIPAL  ASMOfUfnUflOII 

§mmSi   ^'^'^  ^  ^  *^^*  ^  ^^  eouatiy  is  mudi  mora  ««<iif^ 
41m.  9ko  beeauM  our  finmeii  an  lar  bolter  paid  aad  on 

filhtiiif  appUuiMi  grMtljr  Mipeiior.  QBoaoodoa^ 
tlio  reqMetive  biigadoa  in  aetion  to  naUao  that  aola 
fighting  it  <me  bnmeh  of  munieiiNd  wdmM  in  wU^  Ai 
baa  nothing  to  loam  from  Europe.  Rdative  eaqMod 
for  the  maintenance  of  fire  protection  dilf er  nonrideii' 
American  oitiee,  however,  aa  may  be  leen  from  a  (^ 
the  appended  table.*  For  theee  dilTereneea  it  ia  not 
hard  to  account.  Some  dtiea  are  by  raaaoii  of  thai 
out,  their  industriea,  and  the  prevailing  eonstmotioii  <d 
buildingi  more  tuaoqytible  to  disaatrouB  fine  than  Mt  01 
and  aome  have  to  ^Mod  thxvt  or  f<Nir  timaa  aa  aa 
other*  do  per  iquare  mile  of  tenitoiy  btoauae  they  aie 
compactly  built.  Moreover,  the  pay  of  firenan,  the  f 
of  equipment,  the  penaimi  arrangement^  and  ao  m 


^ 


•Til.  foOowiiv  toM»  «0B|iilMl  tnm  th»  MmmM  t 

tbt  Ownu  b  1814.  givw,  tar  tw  MlMtad  «Mm  of  vwyii 
of  OMt  pw  M^iite  ud  «Mt  per  ■qnan  iBito  of  tatltan  pt 
1.^ !.,».  .AA^  «i.^  -,-^  p^y  ihmiiiil  iUOu^  TTwik  uif  WMiitj  1 

below  ita  ml  TUm:—  •"— — ^  '" 


Gkrv 

OMTMBCMtft 

*SSs? 

°%s 

NeirTork 

PUkddpU* 

Bortoa 

BaMiaon     .    !    !    !    ! 

Newark    ..!!.'! 
KuiMCitr 

rlVtMNOM     ..... 

81.78 
0.01 
3.26 
1.08 
3j07 
1.78 
1J8 
1.98 
1.88 
1.8* 

•n^8oo 

11.000 
SAJOOO 
98.300 
19J00O 
37.000 
74)00 
38.100 
31J0O 
104100 

80l8 
OJ 
U 
IJ 

» 

U 

In  mwller  dtias.  pMrtioularijr  in  tboM  of  Ims  than  lOilOO  BOMiaifai 
rdatiTAOMt  iamndilowiar.  It  hM  baM  8gnt«d  tkM  ia  ■wXinS 
ties,  takan  M  a  whoia.  the  pw  aaplta  aamMl  aoat  of  tlw  in  dnartH 


Imb  tfaaa  fifty  emta. 


f«i  mmnicat  asd  warn  PMynonoN     dU 

pwtly  faom  plMe  to  plMt.  But,  wluitonr  tha  kwa  «o»- 
dhioM,  it  it  nft  to  njr  tint  tnmy  Amnriroii  dty  nrnmii 
f»r  mora  thn  H  would  over  Mod  to  if  it  would  ooElMr 
adequate  empharit  upon  the  ndiietioii  ol  iio  huiaZ 

AmencM  fiw  brigMlio  h«yo  boiB  biought  to  »  WA  point 
of  Uctieri  dBdenqr.    TTh^  woti^  bdiif  of  »  .Ziiute 

lutuw,  mate  mo«  lmpw«rioii  o«  the  poiwlitf  iSSI^ 
^  tliat  erf  any  othtr  city  dap-tmrnt/TK^^T^ 

to  .  il«  M  if  hi,  own  life  depended  on  it,  yrtmoit  poSa 
«nre  no  puipoee  irtien  thiy  fH  thew  .wept  to  itMd  toSe 
fii«men8w»y.  TT.*.  ii  .  d«d  of  dnunatie  wtion  in  it  idL 
"k^!  ™*/ WW»t«i  thioudi  the  etraete,  the  thiMt^ 
whirt^ee  «»d  the  cUnglnf  of  belH  the  (dfU  end  wuS  rf 
the  blaring  buildinf,  the  Boi^mbetTiTlr^ter 
^ch  rtrivmf  to  iNn  point,  of  -^^^  over  the  c^! 
People  we  giis^y  inteierted  in  .v^,  «„»  eonqiwld 
they  «•  not  half  «>  ««*  inte«.t<.a  in  IfafllSW 

^  prew»<«m;henee  H  obtuhie  fn,  hii  Intention  Ikmn  the 

i^k  of  the  ibemnn  who  cttrie,  ««,S5;Zmr«^ 
•bng  the  *••  wdl  of  .  Wih  im^^^^l^  ^Z 

hBj^Maient  in  eneh  •  wny  that  tW.  tort  of  nweue  will 
bt^^'^v*^'  «»V"«^'«B<^theHne.ofp^ 

hi^^nn^'*^  «rfofe««t  of  them  have  m«»e  gieat 
h«t«  uanecemiy.    Tlie  Ameriean  tonriit  who  mi^ 


CHAPTER  DC 


•duestioii  it  kfieljr  »  bjriptodtwl  of 
MBtwy  dimoerMX.    On^  wttlria  tht  ImI  lumdnd 
lwT«  tlM  eouaWte  of  Barapo  oadtrtakM  to  ptofido  fm 

ofuadt.   Ustfl  1800,  aad  ovw  allv 


■flhoold  from  tlM  puUio 

thai  date,  tho  afMMiM  of  claBMBteiT  odttMlkiB,  Midi  M  tlHf 
wwo^  NBuiiMd  for  tlM  moH  put  in  privKto  haoda.  lit 
ehuveh  ooBtraOad  tliam  ia  tho  auda,  — aa  attaato  «f 
edueatkm  with  nUgioa  whkh  had  btta  iahtiitod  hm 
mediard  dajrt,  whca  tdtooiiat  waa  f«|aidod  at  ptoftlWi 
onfy  ia  to  far  at  it  teabkd  aita  to  rtad  tho  mtaiitli  4 
dovotioa.  The  ittult  waa  that  uatfl  tho  idaalaMitli  t» 
tttiy  th«  tehoolt  who  availablo  oaly  to  thooa  who  t«il 
afford  to  pay.  Moroovtr,  thoir  programmea  of  aMjr  m 
aarrow  aad  thtir  methoda  (rf  iaatruetioB  woft  iofdMtm, 
.  Eyen  ia  ita  rwlimeBtt  tducatiae  rtoudaad  tiio  pfopartfff 
a  tmall  aiiaority.  It  ii  (|uite  tmt  that  thara  wm  tq«> 
moB  aehoob  ia  tom«  eoatiaeatal  dtiaa  aa  mAf  m  tha  low 
tetath  oeatttiy;  but,  atthoui^  tho  aniaic^  Uutai/ 
bora  part  of  the  oott  of  aiaiataiaiag  them,  the  teaddag  aad 
Biaaageaitat  wtre  ia  the  haadt  of  the  ehurdi.  Bdaaatinti 
like  poor  reUef,  waa  deemed  to  be  aa  eletmotgraaiy  laliMr 
thaa  a  publie  fuaetifm.* 
Aa  early  at  1647,  oaly  aeveateea  yeait  after  ita  oiI#m1 

«•  Urn  AMMf  ¥ 


'for  fwAK 
M*imm 


dtlMili,  M  8.  a  Ptatar. 
1M3). 


tiM  0oloagr  of   MiMiilniiitU  Bay 

ito  iifit  |Mml  Mliool  km,  pravfdiBg  tint  9my  tomi  of 

or«r  fif^  tmSUm  Aanid  oppoi^  m 

pay  bit  mImj,  if  imimiy,  froM  tho  toim  tm^i  and, 

hirtlMr,  thsl  fviiy  torn  of  bom  Ihoa  c 

iboakl  Mt  up  o  puBOMir  MhooL*   TMi  rf^pk 

Int  deeluod  0  pitefl^  wldali  hit  ilMt  fiteod  fMognMoa 
tiifou^iout  tlM  TTimtiT.  niMiijr,  tiMt  tho  procawto  of 
publie  tans  may  piopiiljr  bo  dorotod,  ao  f ar  aa  Mad  Im,  to 
provkUaf  acenoiaa  of  alaoMolaisr  othMatioB  opas  to  ovwy 
ooe.  But  tha  idao  did  Ml  at  OMa  toko  foot  abawiiam. 
Nor  was  propaaa  rapid  arm  aflar  Hm  aataWfahmaot  of  ia- 
dependflBce.  For  a  kag  tisM  ooImoIb  aivportad  in  part  by 
puUie  funda,  but  is  laipr  part  by  prirato  MdowmaBla 
•ad  feM,  eontiiniad  ia  auat  atataa  to  parfona  tlw  work. 
It  WM  not,  iadoad,  tiU  tha  iaat  half  of  tho  aiaataaath 
eentuiy  waa  wdl  oadar  way  tiuit  tbo  ortaaiaad  pablio- 
aehool  pUa  ba|aa  to  gaia  paand  adoptioa;  aad  ovaa  at 
th»t  Amariea  waa  ia  adraaea  of  Emlaad,  wktio  paovWon 
for  a  geaaral  ayatoa  of  tm  pab&  aehoob  did  aot  aono 
uati]  1870.  PhMia  had  auda  adiOol  attmdamw  eoaipid- 
•oiy  more  thaa  a  aaatttiy  iMfora  aad  with  thfe  atap  had  «a- 
tablidied  a  pabHaaahool  yalam.  Jhnam  did  aot  fiaiah 
her  work  of  maUaf  tha  aknaataiy  aahoola  ikoa  aad  pobfo 
untU  1883. 

Sinee  tha  Ohrfl  war  tha  poUay  of  maUaf  aduaatiaa  a 
definite  funetioa  of  publie  authoity  haa  baca  aeoaptad  ia 
«veiy  Motion  of  tha  aooatiy.  Sahool  attaadaaea  oa  tha 
put  of  ftU  ohiMrea  balwaae  aartaia  afM  if  aow  eompuboiy 

■"Mgi  y*  to  y*  amAm  of  ap  hpiholJ".  Aril  tkm  tetikv*  wMfat 

•Sin*  ."f'iJft  JKlIlSA'^  •  •  •  ky  »•  faWiitoBtoto 

latWTM  ar   JfflMWMIMlil  aaa.   »»     m    B    flhaatl^f    ttai^hiMi     tan     tl 


MKMCOrV  HKMUnON  TBT  CHART 

(ANSI  and  ISO  TEST  CHART  No.  2) 


1.1 


1*3 

|U 

lit 
Iti 

Ift 

HI 
IIS 


IM 

IM 


122 

IZO 

1.8 


11.25  iU 


11^  I 


1.6 


/^PLIED  IN/HGE    Inc 

t«S3  Eoit  Main  Slrxt 
Roch*st«r.  f4ra  rork        14609      USA 
(716)  482  -  0300  -  Plwn* 
(716)  266  -  M6I  -  Foa 


wmmm 


Estentof 
pttblie  edu- 
cation in 
Ani6noA* 


868     PRINCIPLES  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION      i 

everywhere ;  and,  as  this  is  an  obligation  which  the  law  fl 
poses  in  the  eonunon  interest,  its  proper  enforcement  4 
mands  that  the  schools  shall  be  free  to  all.  The  statol 
accordingly  require  the  establishment  and  maintenance! 
elementary  schools  in  all  areas  of  local  government,  with  4 
understanding  that  they  are  to  be  nonngectarian,  under  ti 
exclusive  control  of  public  authorities,  and  paid  for  large 
out  of  the  general  taxes.  This  policy  no  one  any  loof 
regards  as  socialistic  or  paternal;  yet  it  is  fundament^ 
the  most  paternal  undertaking  now  carried  on  by  pub 
authority.  Illiteracy,  as  has  been  amply  proved,  is  a  p| 
lific  cause  of  poverty,  vice,  and  crime;  the  childrat| 
the  whole  people  must  be  (xiucated  because  the  wdI4)dl 
of  the  stat'j  demands  that  the  percentage  of  illitersi 
among  its  adult  population  shall  be  kept  at  a  minimui 
The  state  does  not  insist  upon  agencies  of  education  mw 
to  relieve  parents  of  a  duty  or  a  financial  burden,  but  | 
cause  the  social  and  political  welfare  of  the  whole  land  J 
mands  that  every  child  shall  go  to  school.  I 

The  general  statistics  of  public  education  in  this  ooud 
are  impresave.  The  total  enrolment  in  the  public  schfli 
of  the  United  States  is  more  than  18,000,000  pupils,  ox  ab| 
one  sixth  of  the  whole  national  population.  The  tead^ 
nmnber  at  least  half  a  million.  About  a  billion  dc3$ 
represoits  the  total  investment  in  school  property,  and  I 
entire  expenditure  for  maintenance  is  now  nearly  five  tl 
dred  millions.  This  amount  is  not  much  more,  howei 
tiian  the  national  expoiditure  on  war  account,  —  that  i§ 
say,  on  the  cost  of  the  army  and  navy,  together  with  f 
outiay  for  pensions.  Deqpite  the  fact  that  the  Ui^ 
States  is  of  all  the  great  countries  of  the  worid  the  | 
least  given  to  militarism  and  the  one  which  makes  j 
most  generous  disbursements  for  free  education,  the  I 
remains  that  the  cost  of  preparations  for  war  and  i 
cost  of  war's  aftermath  amount  to  nearly  as  mu^  «i 
takes  to  mftintfrip  this  country's  qdendid  qrstem  of  p«| 


SCHOOL  ADMINISTRATION 


880 


gehools.^    This  does  not  indude,  however,  the  eq>enditures 
for  state  colleges  and  universities. 


ICUNICIPAL  SCHOOL  B0ABD8 


boaida. 


The  local  school  authority,  whether  in  dty,  town,  or  rural 
district,  is  almost  everywhere  a  board  of  three,  five,  or  more  ^^j^^ 
members ;  but  as  respects  method  of  selection,  powers,  and  Mho^ 
all  matters  of  internal  ori^misation  these  boards  differ 
greatly,  even  among  municipalities  of  nearly  the  same  size 
and  character.  The  old  idea,  supposed  to  inhere  in  our 
democratic  form  of  local  government  and  dosely  connected 
with  other  political  tendendes  of  the  period  from  1820  to 
1850,  was  that  the  school  board  should  be  a  large  body, 
made  up  of  members  represmting  every  division  of  the 
city.  Since,  however,  these  boards  found  it  necessary  to 
do  most  of  their  work  through  committees,  —  a  practice 
which  usually  resulted  in  secret  deliberations,  cliques,  wire- 
pulling, and  a  g^ieral  diffusion  of  responmbility,  —  there 
has  during  the  laet  twenty  years  been  a  marked  tendency 
to  reduce  them  in  sise.  The  Baltimore  board,  for  «utmple, 
has  dropped  from  twmty-nine  members  to  nine,  the  St. 
Louis  board  from  twenty-one  to  twdve,  the  FhUadelphia 
board  of  public  education  from  forty-two  to  fifteen,  and 
the  Boston  school  committee  from  twenty-four  to  five. 
The  largest  school  board  now  existing  in  any  American 
City  is  that  of  New  York,  which  has  forty-six  mem- 
bers ;  Chicago's  school  board  has  twenty-one  members.  In 
all  American  dties  having  populations  above  one  hundred 

>  Detailed  tgaxm  nuor  be  found  in  the  Annual  tUaHttie$  rf  CiHt$  imatd 
by  the  United  8(»tee  Butcmi  of  the  Camu;  the  •anual  r^orte  at  the 
United  SUtee  CommiMioner  of  Edoofttion;  the  Anmiem  Ytar  Bock; 
ud  in  luoh  periodioal  publicationi  m  the  Sekoel  Rmitw,  the  MneoHonol 
fiivi«t0,  and  the  Pncitdingi  at  the  Nntional  BdneatioB  Aieoeiation. 
Statiatieal  bolletina  ere  elao  iMoed  fMn  tiine  to  time  by  tto  Uaitsd  Stntea 
Bunau  ol  Bdueation. 


ObiMtiou 
boud. 


7' 
f- 


PRINCIPLES  OF  MUKICIPAL  ADMINI8TBAT10N 

thousand  there  are  oidy  thirteen  ^^*  ^*^\^"^,,^. 

XXn  containing  more  thjn  nine  m^nbers  ^«^ 

^  aeveland,  Cincinnati,  Minneapolis,  and  Los  Angdei 

^;  bTiTof  ^en  members  each ;  Indianapohs  Bort<m, 

S^UteDenver,  Rochester,  Memphis,  Cambndge,  Spokane, 

^*'ler  municipalities  of  --iderable  aije  have  boj^ 

of    five;    San   Francisco   has   a   school   board   of   four 

ImC  md  Albany  one  of  only  three.     Some  of  the 

StiTZt  are  now  under  the  commission  type  of  gov- 

e^eThave  abolished  their  school  boards  en^y  and 

h^^ven  to  a  single  elective  commissioner  the  ^tm, 

tork  orsupervising  the  school  depa^ment     Ga^v«^»; 

Houston,  and  St.  Paul  are  good  exampW    On  the  othw 

hand    ^me  commission  cities,  such  as  New  Orl««ij  and 

Z'^Z,  have  retained  small  school  boards  of  five  «r 

STenmmbers.    The  reason  for  this  action  is  a  convjcU<« 

STsome  variety  of  opinions  ou,^t  to  be  provided  for  m 

♦lip  aetermination  of  school  policy. 

*  T^eob^^tounwieldyschoolboardsoffifteen,*^^ 

or  thirty  members  are  too  apparent  to  reqmw^  «ny  f^ 
wed  discussion.    Those  who  are  best  quahfied  to  sp«A 
on^he^tter  are  nearly  unanimous  in  the  opmion  ths 
^e^h^^g  which  can  be  urged  af^inst  the  .^^  -- 
ar^nlifia  with  equal  or  greater  force  to  the  bulky  scnow 
boa^     UrgeTards  Wt  work  through  committees  m4 
^Z^oJ^Z.,  thereby  encoura^  manipulatioi«  wbdj 
will  not  bear  the  Ught  of  day.    The  fun<^--;   J^^^^ 
board  are  chiefly  of  a  poUcy-determimng  ^^^'^^^ 
best  be  performed  by  a  few  men  and  ^ojJ«^  «f  ^J  «>^ 
a  table  m  free  and  frank  discussion.    No  ^ty  that^ 
tried  the  smaU-board  plan  shows  any  disposition  to  absih 

**°?^L  are  several  methods  of  choosing  the  membem  of 
Qoytrammi,"  in  *»»•  Bdueatunud  RfUw,  xxrva.  oom.*  v  »»". 


SCHOOL  ADMINISTRATION 


861 


1.  Bjr 
lar 


city  school  boards.*  The  most  common  process  is  by  popu-  ^".^^ 
lar  election,  whether  by  districts,  or  at  large,  or  by  a  com-  ■ehooiiioar? 
bination  of  both  these  methods.  In  Boston,  Cleveland, 
Denver,  and  Indianapolis  all  the  members  of  the  school 
board  are  elected  at  large ;  in  Detroit  they  are  elected  one 
from  each  of  the  wards  of  the  city.  From  nearly  every  point 
of  view  the  qnstem  of  election  at  large  is  preferable.  Ward 
representation  may  offer  the  externals  of  "a  system  which 
brings  the  government  near  the  people,"  but  in  actual  prac- 
tice it  generally  accomplishes  nothing  of  the  sort.  It  means, 
more  often  than  not,  that  the  school  board  is  composed  of 
members  who  owe  their  advancement  to  the  influence  of  local 
politicians  and  are  there  to  do  the  bidding  of  their  bosses ;  it 
means,  in  the  great  majority  of  cases,  the  lowering  of  school 
business  to  the  plane  of  ward  politics,  with  all  the  chicanery, 
manipulation,  and  interference  with  school  discipline  that  this 
situation  implies.    In  this  country,  government  by  commit- 


■  The  following  taUe  ahoira  the  die  and  methoda  of  aeleetifm  of  the 
lehool  boards  in  various  large  eities,  as  weD  as  the  terms  of  membos :  — 


CRT 

'SSSSLS' 

numCmamm 

Tm 

Boston 

Chicago 

Cleveland 

Denver     

Detroit 

Indianapolis      .... 

Milwaukee 

New  York 

Philadelphia      .... 

Pittsburgh 

SanFranoisoo    .    .    .    . 

21 

21 

16 
46 
15 
16 

4 

Elected  at  large 
Appdnted  by  mayor 
Eleoted  at  hurge 
Eleetad  at  laige 
Bleeted  by  wards 
Eleoted  at  large 
Eleoted  at  large 
Appdnted  by  mayor 
Appointed  by  court 
Aiqninted  by  court 
Appdnted  by  mayor 

3  yean 
3yean 
4yean 
Oyean 
Syean 
4yean 
6yean 
Syean 
6yean 
6yean 

4  yean 

Members  ol  the  sohoid  board  an  unpaid  in  aD  these  cities  except  Mil- 
waukee and  San  l^anoisoo.  In  the  former  they  reodve  three  doUian  per 
meeting  (with  a  nuudmum  of  one  hundred  ddlan  per  Mmum) ;  in  the  latter 
they  have  stated  salaries  of  18000  per  year.  For  a  tal^  showing  the  siie 
and  methods  of  seleeting  aohool  boards  in  othw  dties,  aee  F.  W.  Balhni, 
The  Appointmmt  c/  Teaekan  in  dUn  (Oanhddge.  Mass.,  1016),  ch.  viL 


362     PRINCIPLES  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


Ftoviiioiis 
(OTmiBMity 
Mpraenta- 
tion. 


tees  has  on  the  whole  proved  to  be  bad  govemmoit,  and  H 
has  invarinbly  been  so  whenever  committees  of  a  school 
board  have  been  made  up  on  a  ward  basis.  Election  «k 
large  or  appointment  at  large  has  enabled  many  cities  te 
improve  both  the  caliber  of  their  school  boards  and  i  •; 
methods  by  which  the  work  of  these  boards  is  done. 

To  the  plan  of  election  at  large  there  is,  however,  one 
objection  which  in  some  communities  may  be  regarded  u 
serious,  —  the  liability,  namely,  that  certain  racial,  religious, 
or  social  interests  among  the  people  may  at  times  be  left 
without  any  representation  on  the  school  board,  especial^ 
if  nominailons  are  made  at  a  non-partisan  primary  or  by 
petition.  It  will  be  relied,  of  course,  that  the  scho<^ 
should  be  kept  out  of  racial,  rehgious,  and  social  biokeringi; 
and  00  they  should  be.  The  trouble  is,  however,  that  in 
many  communities  this  ideal  is  quite  impossible  of  attain^ 
mert.  A  rdigious  minority,  for  example,  will  not  usually 
rest  content  if  it  is  not  represented  on  the  board  by  a  single 
member  of  its  faith.  Some  religious  groups  have  strong 
and  definite  tenets  on  various  matters  connected  with  the 
administration  of  the  public  schools ;  they  feel,  therefore, 
that  when  they  constitute  a  substantial  minority  of  the 
electorate  they  should  have  some  representation,  and  they 
will  continue  to  demand  it.  This  difficulty  may  often  be 
met  by  having  the  school  board  appointed,  or  dse  by  pro- 
viding for  a  limited  amount  of  district  representation  through 
the  selection  of  a  part  of  the  board  at  large  and  another  part 
by  districts  —  a  plan  that  meets  the  situation  when  racial, 
religious,  or  social  groups  are  strong  in  difiFerent  sections  oi 
the  city.  It  is  not  an  altogether  desirable  poUcy,  but  at 
the  lesser  of  two  evils  it  may  advantageously  be  followed 
if  special  conditions  so  demand. 

An  alternative  plan  of  providing  a  reasonable  reflectioa 
of  minority  wishes  is  afforded  by  varioxis  schemes  of  pro- 
portional representation,  limited  voting,  or  cimiulative  vot- 
ing.   The  system  of  limited  voting  works  in  the  following 


SCHOOL  ADMINIBTRATION 


way: 


if  there  are  five  membm  of  a  aohool  board  to  be  JJJJJl^ 


elected  on  a  general  ticket  at  the  lame  election,  each  voter  v^«Md 
is  permitted  to  vote  for  three  or  four  candidates  only ;  by 
this  means  a  minority  among  the  voters,  by  eonooitrating  tidn. 
on  the  one  or  two  candidates,  as  the  ease  may  be,  can 
manage  to  elect  them.    Although  this  plan  does  not  on 
the    whole    work    very    satisfact'^-"-'-    as    regards    the 
caliber  of  candidates  that  it  draws  i«;«,o  the  field,  it  has 
proved  an  effective  makeshift  in  enabling  a  strong  minority 
to  get  at  least  one  representative.    The  qnrtem  of  cumula- 
tive voting  is  a  little  more  complicated.    Under  Hob  arrange- 
ment each  voter  has  as  many  votes  as  there  are  places  to  be 
filled ;  he  may  cast  all  of  these  votes  for  one  candidate  or 
for  two,  or  he  may  give  all  the  candidates  one  vote  each  so 
far  as  his  votes  go.    In  practice  this  plan  has  proved  cum- 
bersome and  not  alwa]rs  dependable.    It  has  frequently 
enabled  a  minority  of  the  voters  to  elect  a  majority  of  the 
candidates,  for  the  simple  reason  that  some  names  on  tiie 
ballot  have  obtained  more  votes  than  they  needed  for  elec- 
tion and  so  the  surplus  has  been  wasted.    Schemes  of  pro- 
portional representation  go  a  good  deal  farther ;  there  are 
several  such  plans,  but  all  of  them  require  more  space  for 
explanation  than  can  well  be  given  here.^    No  one  of  the 
threft  methods  —  limited  voting,  cumulative  voting,  or  pro- 
portional representation  —  is  easily  applicable  to  the  elec- 
tion of  a  small  board  to  which  only  one  or  two  members 
are  chosen  each  year.    Such  conditions  are  best  met  by 
the  plan  of  electing  district  representatives,  as,  for  example 
by  the  choice  of  one  district  representative  and  one  repre- 
sentative at  large  each  year. 

The  securing  of  a  satisfactory  school  board  by  popular 
election  depends  not  only  upon  the  size  of  the  board  and  the  *^2JJ|^ 
method  of  choosing  its  members,  but  also  upon  the  plan  of 
nomination,  the  type  of  ballot  used,  and  the  scope  of  the 

■  For  AmtfioMi  readen  th*  beit  gwMnl  book  onthia  mbjaotit  John  R. 
Commons's  Proportional  R$pre$0ntati<ni  (New  York,  1807). 


vVitiu  of 


llw  prefer- 
ential 
IwUot. 


364     PMNCIPUBS  or  liCUMIOIPAL  ADMINI8TBATI0N 

electorate.  A  iyrtem  of  nomination  by  pwty  caucui  or  by 
party  primaiy  is  enou|^  to  demoralise  any  school  boaiO, 
no  matter  what  its  sise  or  its  powers  may  be.  Candidatfli 
for  election  to  the  school  board  should  be  nominated  dther 
by  petition  or  at  a  non-partisan,  open  primaiy.*  The  fomwr 
of  these  two  methods  is  particulariy  weU  adapted  for  use  in 
Bchool-board  nominations,  since  thc-e  are  in  eveiy  dty 
various  civic  organisations  and  clubs  that  are  usually  ready 
to  take  a  hand  in  securing  the  right  type  of  candidate  for 
the  school  board,  even  though  they  refuse  to  be  drawn  into 
the  campaign  for  mayor  or  councUmen.  Even  whoi  % 
good  many  names  are  required  on  such  petitions  they  can 
be  obtained  through  these   organisations  without  much 

trouble  or  exr  u  -i.  »     v       v   i 

The  form  ballot  is  also  important.  If  the  school 
board  is  chuoen  at  the  regular  municipal  election  its  mem- 
bers should,  when  practicable,  be  voted  for  on  a  separate 
ballot.  This  ballot  should  be  short,  it  should  have  no  party 
designations,  and  the  names  of  candidates  should  be  rotated 
in  such  way  that  no  one  s*  .  have  a  marked  advantage 
from  the  mere  fact  that  the  ioat  letter  of  his  name  standi 
high  in  the  alphabet.  To  insure  a  short  ballot  it  is  neces- 
sary that  only  one  or  two  members  of  the  school  board  shall 
be  chosen  at  each  election.*  A  good  deal  may  be  said  foi 
the  use  of  the  preferential  ballot  in  school  elections,  becaua 
it  affords  a  method  whereby  the  voter  may  reflect  his  entin 
judgment  and  not  merely  a  portion  of  it.  The  preferentia 
ballot  is,  indeed,  a  natural  ally  of  the  petition  e;  -  • 
nomination;  for  one  objection  to  this  nominating  , 
in  the  fact  that  it  puts  so  many  names  on  the  bau  .<. 
under  the  ordinary  methods  of  balloting,  the  candidate  maj 
be  and  often  is  the  choice  of  a  minority.    With  the  preferai 

>  A  Boheme  of  nomuwtioii  by  petition  ia  deMribed  by  N»th« 
MatthewB,  Municipal  Chart»r$  (Cambridge,  1914),  pp.  lO*-!"*. 

•  For  »  diwusrion  of  the  diort  bcJlot,  its  eaMntiala  »nd  •dvMiU»|». » 
reitder  may  be  raTened  to  the  trenchant  little  vdume  by  R.  a  ChU* 
entitled  Skort-BdM  PrincipU*  (Boeton,  1911). 


BOHOOL  ADMINIBTIUTION 


tial  ballot  in  use,  however,  the  number  of  eandidates  li  im> 
material;  the  election  r  ^  to  the  one  who  eommacds 
the  widest  luiyport  among  Uie  voten,  evoi  though  he  may 
not  be  the  first  choice  of  a  majority  of  tiiem.  The  maehineiy 
of  the  preferoitial  ballot  has  been  described  in  so  many  acces- 
sible places  that  it  need  not  be  explained  here ;  it  is  eooui^ 
to  say  that  it  is  well  adapted  to  simplify  the  use  of  a  pro- 
portional-rq^resentation  ^yston  whm  only  two  or  three 
places  are  to  be  filled  at  an  election.  It  is  not  at  all 
impracticablei  therefore,  to  arrange  that  a  fairiy  small  sdiool 
board  —  say,  of  nine  monbers  —  shall  be  nominat-ed  by 
petition  and  dected  for  three-year  terms  by  a  preferential 
ballot,  with  a  provision  for  giving  some  approach  to  pro- 
portional represoitation  to  minorities  among  the  voters. 
V/ith  a  two-year  term  for  members  of  the  board,  the  total 
membership  may  be  reduced  to  five  without  danger  of  ren- 
dering such  plan  of  nomination  and  election  impossible. 

A  third  question  connected  with  the  election  of  school 
boards  is  the  scope  of  the  suffrage.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
the  arguments  for  giving  voting  ri^ts  to  women  apply  with 
stronger  force  to  school  elections  than  to  any  otiber  form  of 
public  activity.  Many  states  that  still  deny  to  women  the 
privilege  of  voting  at  regular  municipal  elections  have  granted 
them  a  share  in  choosing  members  of  the  school  board, 
and  in  the  main  with  distinctly  good  results,  for  their 
influence  has  been  almost  invariably  exerted  in  the  direction 
of  higher  standards  and  improved  methods  of  education.* 
School  adounistration  is  the  branch  of  municipal  business  in 
which  most  women  are,  or  ought  to  be,  directly  and  pro- 
foundly interested. 

In  American  cities  taken  as  a  whole,  popular  election  is 
the  most  common  method  of  cho<Ming  members  of  school 
boards,  but  it  is  not  by  any  means  the  only  method.    In 

>  A  fun  diaeiunkm  of  thb  Mid  allied  tof^  may  be  found  in  Maiy  R. 
Bout's  Woman't  Work  in  MunieipaHtif  (New  York,  1916),  eqwd^ly 


SeopeefOe 


366     PRINCIPLES  or  UUNIOIPAL  ADMINUTRATION 


B.TIM 


■ome  few  cities  they  are  appointed  by  the  mayor,  an  anranie- 
fc,^         ment  of  which  New  York,  Chicago,  and  San  Franciwo  affoid 
I   Bwb.       notable  examples.*    Thia  plan  i«  baaed  upon  the  notion  thai 
Stt***     appointments  so  made  wiU  be  in  disregard  of  party  aflUia- 
■»•»*•        tions,  and  that  persons  with  unusual  int«rest  in  edueatioaal 
problems  are  likely  to  be  brought  into  the  dty's  service 
through  the  mayor's  influence.    As  a  matter  of  practice, 
however,  neither  of  these   resulto  has  commonly  been 
obtained.    Mayors  have  appointed,  in  many  cases,  the 
type  of  man  or  woman  that  would  probably  have  be«i  chosen 
by  popular  election.    It  may  be  worth  while  to  raise  the 
question,  moreover,  whether  the  practice  of  having  the  mayw 
appoint  members  of  the  school  board  does  not  sometimes  rest 
upon  an  improper  conception  of  what  the  work  of  this  board 
ought  to  be.    Should  the  school  board  be  made  up  of  persons 
who  have  special  knowledge  in  school  matters?    Or  shouU 
not  the  knowledge  be  supplied  by  the  superintendent  and 
other  professional  officers  under  the  board's  direction  rather 
than  by  that  body  itself?    Without  question  the  proper 
function  of  a  school  board  is  to  determine  matters  of  gen«nl 
policy,  to  keep  the  schoob  in  direct  articulation  with  the 
needs  of  the  community,  and  to  serve  as  a  true  mirror  <rf 
public  opinion  in  educational  matters.    It  should  reflect 
in  a  broad  and  catholic  spirit  the  judgment  and  qrmpathies 
of  the  people  who  support  the  schools,  but  it  should  not 
attempt  in  any  way  to   administer  the  detaib  of  school 
policy.    These  should  be  left  to  the  superintendent  or 
other  expert  administrative  official,  the  duty  of  th«  board 
being  to  sit  iu  judgment  on  his  work,  to  spur  the  expwt 
ahead  when  professional  routine  causes  him  to  lag,  or  to 

» In  New  York  the  nwyw  apixniita  twenl^-two  »««*«"  ***"**• 
borough  <rf  MMih»ttan,  fourteen  from  Brooklyn,  four  from  The  Bma, 
ft»ur  from  Queens,  »nd  two  from  Richmond.  In  ChieafO  the  mayor  «!«•• 
the  twenty-one  members  from  the  city  at  large,  the  appointments  beU* 
subject  to  confirmation  by  the  city  coundL  In  San  Fraodsoo  w  m^ 
appoints,  without  confirmation,  one  member  eaeh  year  from  the  aty  •» 
iMve. 


■OHOOL  AmaNnmuTioN 


807 


ti^tan  the  rrins  whenever  profeMtonal  enthiudMin  demandi 
ehftngee  th*t  ue  too  nwiieel  or  too  eottiy.  The  intelli- 
ge&t  bymaa  oan  do  hit  ihue  of  all  this;  the  question  is 
merdy  whether  ftppointeient  or  election  is  the  best  wsy 
of  getting  him  into  senrioe. 

These  sre  the  two  most  common  methods  of  sdeeting  thoee 
who  ihsU  constitute  the  dty's  ehief  school  authority,  but  ^.^f^^ 
other  schemes  are  here  and  thwe  in  vogue.  In  some  South-  tiMi 
em  cities  the  members  of  the  school  board  are  choeen  by  the 
city  council,  a  jdan  that  seons  to  combine  all  the  dis- 
advantages of  mayoral  iqypointment  and  popular  election 
without  the  merits  of  either.  In  Philadelphia  the  fifteen  ^^^^ 
monbers  of  the  board  of  public  education  are  named  frmn  tiweiMrta 
the  citisenship  by  the  Judges  of  the  state  court  of  com- 
mon pleas ;  and  in  addition  each  ward  used  to  elect  a  board 
of  school  visitors  with  various  local  powers.  Veiy  little,  if 
anything,  can  be  said  in  favor  of  giving  the  appointive  pow«r 
to  the  courts.  Although  in  theoiy  the  policy  embodies  an 
endeavor  to  keep  the  schools  out  of  politics,  in  practice  it 
must  serve,  in  the  long  run,  to  besmirch  the  courts  by  draw- 
ing them  into  Hxe  arena  of  partisan  or  religious  controverqr. 

The  terms  for  which  membos  of  the  school  board  are 
chosen  show  a  tendency  to  become  longer  than  th^  used  to 
be.  One-year  terms  are  now  r^arded  as  altogether  too 
brief  to  be  profitable,  and  even  two-year  terms  are  losing 
favor ;  for  it  is  now  recognised  that,  to  get  a  proper  grasp 
of  the  general  questions  which  come  before  a  school  board, 
the  avwage  man  must  have  more  ocperience  than  he  is  likely 
to  gain  in  so  diort  a  time.  In  Baltimore  and  St.  Louis  the 
term  is  now  six  years,  in  New  York  and  Dayton  five  yeart 
in  Cleveland  four  years,  in  Boston,  Chicago,  Ffailadelphi  i, 
and  Httsbiir^  three  years.  The  practice  of  partial  renewal 
every  year  or  every  two  years  is  pretty  generally  in  vogue. 

As  for  compensation,  the  usual  policy  is  to  espect  free 
service  from  members  of  school  boards.  All  the  largest 
cities  except  San  Francisco  (which  pays  each  m^nber  three 


MP 


NdMd 


868    PRINOIPLM  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINIBTIUTIOIf 

thouMmd  dollan  per  ymr)  punue  tiiia  i^mi.  Rodieftcr^ 
however,  givee  meh  of  it*  five  ineaiben  twelve  huadred  d(A> 
Un  per  year,  aad  »  few  other  eitiee  pay  ft  mall  Munial 
•tipeod.  It  k  tnie  that  faithful  aervie^  eqwdaQjr  idieii  the 
aehool  board  it  email  and  doea  none  of  itaworic  through  eon»> 
mitteee,  makea  a  heavy  demand  <»  the  time  and  energy  of 
ita  memberi.  Beaidea,  then  is  sometiiing  iUogieal  in  paying 
memben  of  a  eity  (Knindl  (eqteeially  when  moet  <4  ita  f  uae- 
tions  have  be«i  transferred  to  the  mayor)  and  yet  dmying 
any  remuneratkm  to  memben  of  the  school  board,  whose  ie> 
qMnsibilities  and  whose  qiending  discretion  may  be  erm 
greater.  On  the  other  hand,  the  pdioy  oi  paying  a  salary  i» 
almost  sure  to  impair  the  eaUber  of  the  board  sooner  or  latsr, 
for  it  provides  a  temptation  to  use  political  machinery  in  the 
endeavor  to  put  inoompetoit  men  on  the  mty'§  salary  list 
Moreover,  voluntary  sttviee  ou|^t  to  be  fortho<HDaing  for  ^ 
department  of  dty  administration,  even  thou|^  it  cannot 
be  had  for  any  other.  The  wdfare  of  the  eomnum  sehodi 
is  a  matter  which  cornea  so  dose  to  the  home  of  eveiy  dtiaea 
that  it  should  never  be  difficult,  ao  long  aa  any  vestige  of 
pubUo  spirit  remains  in  the  community,  to  get  willing  s» 
vice  on  the  board  of  education.  Furthermore,  the  paynMot 
of  salaries  to  school  boards  is  likdy  to  create  in  Hm  puMie 
mind  a  notion  that  the  members  must  give  personal  attentioa 
to  every  detail  of  school  administration,  —  they  must  q>- 
pear  to  be  earning  their  wages;  consequently  they  are  Habk 
to  find  themselves  meddling  with  things  that  ouf^t  to  be 
left  to  the  superintendent  and  other  educational  eqfmts.* 
If  the  board  confines  itsdf  to  its  proper  functions,  however, 
it  need  require  from  its  members  no  more  time  than  can  bs 
properly  taken,  without  detriment,  from  a  man's  daily 
vocation. 

« 8<e  a  T.  Dntton  and  DvM  Saeddm,  Th$  Adminitlraliom^PMIt  W*a 
cation  in  th*  United  Stain  (New  York.  1013),  p.  140.    Ttm  siiaBMBti  far 


uid  agynst  pidd  aohotd  bouds  are  eofmtly  tt»t«d  l^  Ni^ehs  Man? 
Butter  and  William  J.  Oaynor  in  the  MneoMMMi  Bmtam,  m.  304-310 
(September.  1011). 


*OBooL  Amammur  •  n 


m  wont  or  cnr  WBom*  mujoam 

Th«|aa«al  work  of  a  tdiool  authority  oompriMa  time 
nlatad  bjt  rathtr  dUTornit  groupa  of  funetioiia.  Fbat  »•^»~• 
thtre  If  thamattw  of  ptovidiiig  the  school  plant,  which  ial  *^'' 
ehidM  the  nIeetloB  and  aequkitkm  of  land  for  aehool  build- 
mgt,  th«  pnparatkm  of  plana  and  qMdfioationi,  the  lettiac 
of  contract.,  and  the  superviiion  of  eonatmetion,  togothw 
with  sueh  ninodaUinf  and  repair  of  aehool  huUdinie  aa  nuy 
be  needed  from  time  to  time.  AM  theee  thing.  eonatHute  a 
group  of  Amotion.  ooneideraUy  removed  from  the  routine 
work  of  ropervidnfteachei.  and  teaching.  In  the  Mcond 
pUce,  the  general  work  of  a  Mhool  departmer  •  '  ^dea  many 
task,  of  a  burincM  or  elerieal  nature,  «K^  ,  .  e  purchai 
of  fuel  and  nippUee,  the  maUng  of  oontracc      .  tert-book% 

the  grantmg  of  permita  for  th#»  UM  «rf  Mhod  buildingi  after 
school  houn^  and  a  hoat  of  .imOar  matten.  Finally,  and 
most  important  beeauae  it  neeeMtatee  dealing  Urcely  with 
pcKon.  rather  than  with  material  thinp,  theie  i.  the  duty 
of  appointing  the  raperintuident  and  hi.  amiatant.,  engaging 
and  promoting  teaehen,  approving  their  tranefen  or  awign- 
ments,  rapervinng  the  .diool  curriculum,  and  t^faW  final 
overwj^tofanquertion.reUtingtOMhooldi«jipiine,»  Here 
are  group,  of  funetion.  which,  although  more  or  Icm  allied 
are  oMentiaDydiffereat  in  nature.    It  i.  a  rare  penon  who 

(BytteHn,  1918.  No.  81) ;  ^SdS^^iriSiS^i^ti^j!!^ 
vob.,  New  York.  1911-1913).  '^^^  "  *«»«*»  (««•  ««l  Mmuoo.  8 
Sb 


r  f  111 


School  oon- 
■tiuction. 


370     PRmCIPLBS  OF  MUMIOIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

can  muster  an  equal  interest  in  all  thi69.  Consequent^, 
if  the  work  is  to  be  done  efficiently  there  must  be  some 
internal  organization  of  the  school  department  which  wiD 
commit  each  set  of  functions  to  those  who  are  best  qualified 
to  attend  to  them. 

In  most  cities  the  work  of  buying  land  for  schools  and  of 
constructing  the  school  buildings  is  put  directly  into  the 
hands  of  the  school  board.  To  this  general  policy,  however, 
Boston  furnishes  a  striking  exception.  In  that  city  the  woric 
of  school  management  (which  includes  the  last  two  of  the 
three  groups  of  functions  enumerated  in  the  preceding  para- 
graph) is  given  to  a  school  committee  of  five  members  elected 
by  popular  vote ;  but  the  duty  of  selecting  school  sites,  of 
constructing  school  buildings,  and  of  keeping  them  in  repas 
is  devolved  upon  a  schoolhouse  commission  of  three  monben 
appointed  by  the  mayor.  This  division  of  authority  has 
been  dictated  by  two  considerations.  For  one  thing,  it  has 
been  felt  that  members  of  an  unpaid  school  committee^ 
elected  by  popular  vote,  are  not  likely  to  have  the  skiO, 
interest,  or  time  needed  for  the  proper  consideration  of  the 
technical  questions  pertaining  to  school  construction.  la 
the  second  place,  such  a  division  of  functions  seems  to  be  of 
service  in  keeping  politics  out  of  routine  school  management 
The  fact  is  that  the  actual  work  of  managing  the  schodi 
ofifers  little  in  the  way  of  political  patronage, — there  are  vny 
few  spoils  to  distribute.  Teachers  in  the  public  schm^ 
have  to  work  hard  for  small  pay ;  hence  their  posts  are  not  w 
eagerly  sought  as  are  clerking  and  stenographic  positions  ia 
other  city  departments  that  attract  those  who  have  political 
rather  than  educational  qualifications.  Appointments  dne 
to  partisan  or  personal  politics  are  of  course  not  rare  ia 
our  publioHSchool  sjrstem,  but  they  are  not  neaiiy  so  eoiOr 
mon  as  in  other  departments.  Where  the  real  opportunity 
for  patronage  comes  is  in  the  selection  of  school  sites,  the 
purchase  of  land  for  schools  or  playgroimds,  and  the  award 
of  contracts  for  school  construction.    Here  is  Uie  pokai  at 


SCHOOL  ADMINISTRATION 


871 


which  the  shafts  of  the  poUtician  are  likely  to  be  di- 
rected. 

There  is  something  to   be  said,   therefore,   in   behalf 
of  the  pohcy  which  frankly  admits  that  poUtical  influences 
cannot  easUy  be  kept  out  of  school  sites  and  school  con- 
tracts, but  may  be  ousted  from  the  work  of  actual  school 
management  if  the  two  general  sets  of  functions  are  com- 
mitted to  separate  authorities.    It  would  of  course  be  better 
to  keep  poHtics  out  of  both ;  but  the  policy  of  jettisoning  a 
part  of  the  ship  s  cargo  in  order  to  save  the  rest  of  it  is  one 
that  may  sometimes  be  justified  by  the  plea  of  sheer  neces- 
sity.    If  the  schools  cannot  be  kept  free  from  political  pres- 
sure so  long  as  the  regular  school  board  has  valuable  patron- 
age withm  its  control,  there  is  foree  in  the  contention  of  those 
who  urge  that  this  patronage  be  turned  over  to  the  city 
council  or,  as  in  Boston,  to  a  schoolhouse  commission.   On  the 
other  hand,  any  such  division  of  authority  is  sure  to  result 
m  more  or  less  conflict  of  opinion.    That  constitutes  a 
strong  objection  to  it.     Since   the  school  building  ought 
to  be  related  to  the  school  method,  there  must  obviously 
be  provision  for  a  krge  amount  of  cooperation  if  the  two 
things  are  to  be  intrusted  to  different  hands.    Too  often 
however,  after  the  separation  has  been  made  the  coOpeni^ 
tion  has  not  been  forthcoming,  particularly  if  the  construc- 
tion work  has  been  given  to  a  committee  of  the  city  council.* 
In  addition  to  these  matters  of  land  purchase,  construc- 
tion, and  repau-,  there  are  various  other  affairs  of  a  purely  Theburf- 
busmwB  nature  mth  which  the  municipal  school  authorities  ^Z^ 
nave  to  deal.    There  is  the  purchase  of  furniture   fuel   ""'"i'*^ 
and  supplies,  theoversi^it  of  janitor  service,  the  buying  of  **^ 
text-books  and  stationery,  the  supernsion  of  school  lunch- 
rooms, the  granting  of  permits  to  use  the  schools  for  non- 
schoiastic  purposes  after  school  hours.    These  are  matteiv 
which  usudly  fan  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  school 
Y«rSw?^?ra^  A*n*n<rt-8««»  in  Munidj^i  Gomnmenl  (New 


372     PRINCIPLB8  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMIKIBTIUTION 

board,  but  th^  may  be  delegated,  on  its  behalf,  either  to 
the  superintendent  or  to  a  special  business  agent.  Smaller 
cities  pursue  the  former  plan,  larger  ones  incline  to  the 
latter,  while  some  still  maint.ain  the  policy  of  leaving 
the  work  to  a  committee  of  the  school  board.  But  al- 
though this  is  a  branch  of  school  administration  in  which 
there  is  great  opportunity  for  small  waste  and  leaki^  at 
many  points,  it  has  rarely  received  serious  attention  in  the 
interests  of  economy.  Take  the  matter  of  purchasing 
school  text-books,  for  example.  A  great  many  school  boards 
now  supply  these  without  cost  to  the  pupils.  Since  the  con- 
tracts for  such  texts  aggregate  many  thousands  of  dollarB 
each  year,  publiriiers  and  the  agents  of  publishers  often  bring 
pressure  to  bear  upon  school  authorities  in  order  to  secure 
the  adoption  of  their  particular  books.  The  selection  bong 
thus  liable  to  turn  upon  considerations  quite  apart  from  the 
merits  of  the  texts,  there  is  here  especial  need  for  indepen- 
dence and  integrity  on  the  part  of  Ihe  school  official  or  com- 
mittee. In  a  few  «>tates  the  laws  require  imiformity  in  the 
use  of  text-books  throughout  the  state ;  in  such  cases  the 
selection  is  left  in  the  hands  of  a  coatral  body,  commonly 
called  the  text-book  commission.* 


School 

•■■BMBt. 


THE  SUPERINTENDENT  OF  CITr  8CHOOI49 

But  most  important  of  all  the  functions  of  a  school  board, 
and  the  one  that  makes  the  heaviest  demands  upon  the  time 
of  its  members,  is  the  mapping  of  school  poUcy  in  relatiim 
to  instruction  and  to  matters  necessarily  connected  tiierewith. 
This  function  is  one  which  requires  so  much  knowledge  of  a 
professional  nature  and  involves  the  care  of  so  many  detaib 
that  it  is  ahnost  invariably  del^ated  in  large  part  to  a  paid 
official  oonunonly  called  the  superintendent  of  schools,  who 

>  Theae  vsrioua  matten  an  fully  diieaHed  in  the  ehapter  <m  "To*- 
Booka  and  Sehwd  Sapi^at,"  in  8.  T.  Dutton  and  David  bieddsn't  iitawa- 
i^ration  af  PttbUo  Sdueatian  *ft  lk$  UftHtd  Aoto*  (N«w  Ywk,  1012),  pp. 
70&-739. 


SCHOOL  ADMINISTRATION 


873 


for  the  proper  perfomumce  of  such  duties  in  any  large  city 
must  be  a  man  of  q)eciali*ed  training.    The  necetwaiy  quai 
fications  have  80  often  been  set  forth  by  writ-rs  on  the  science 
of  education  that  thqr  may  be  passed  over  here  with  the  bare 
observation  that,  above  aU  other  things,  such  an  official  must 
have  admuustnitive  abiUty,  teaching  experience,  and  a  broad 
sympathy  with  aU  branches  of  education.    One  or  two  cities 
elect  their  superintendent  by  popular  vote,  a  policy  which 
18  of  aoabtful  wisdom  at  its  best  and  altogether  vicious 
at  Its  wa:st.     In  most  places,  krge  and  smaU,  the  su- 
penntendent  is  chosen  by  the  school  board. 

The  term  for  which  the  superintendent  is  appointed  varies 
from  one  to  six  years.    Rarely  do  cities  go  to  either  of  these  T«n.  ,b- 

extremes,  but  terms  of  four  or  five  years  are  common  and  are  S^"^ 

becommg  more  so.    A  term  of  at  least  four  years  is  very  de-  **»'"'«» 

sirable  if  a  new  superintendent  is  expected  to  make  a  cweful  SSv*^ 

jirvey  of  his  work  before  formulating  his  general  policy. 

Secunty  of  tenure  during  his  term  and  the  reasonable  cer- 

tamty  of  reappointment  when  it  expires  are  also  necessary 

to  effid^t  work  in  this  office,  as  in  all  other  administrative 

posts     How  to  secure  these  things  is  the  question  that 

presents  a  difficult  problem.    An  elective  school  board  of  ten 

changes  its  complexion  in  the  course  of  a  few  years.    Men 

or  women  who  for  personal  or  partisan  reasons  pubUcly 

oppose  some  feature  of  the  superintendent's  poHcy  are  from 

tune  to  time  elected  to  the  board.    Then  there  is  danger 

of  his  dismissal  despite  an  exceUent  record.    To  guard 

against  such  mishaps  something  may  be  accomplished  by  a 

provision  that  the  superintendent  shall  not  be  removed 

except  by  a  two-thirds  vote  of  the  school  board ;  but  in  the 

long  run  the  only  sure  defence  against  unjust  removal  must 

be  provided  by  an  energetic  public  opinion.    The  same  is 

tme  of  reappointment.    If  the  failure  to  reappoint  a  capable 

oacial  arouses  no  marked  resentment  among  the  voters  of 

the  community,  Kttle  dependence  can  be  put  upon  formal 

Mfeguards  as  a  means  of  keeping  the  man  in  office.    In 


374     PRINCIPLB8  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


.i 


Theauper- 
intendent's 
dutiM. 


general,  school  superintefidents  are  tolerably  well  paid, 
quite  as  well  as  officials  in  other  departments  where  skill 
and  experience  of  similar  grade  are  demanded.  The  office, 
indeed,  constitutes  one  point  in  municipal  administration 
at  which  the  city  can  well  aif ord  to  be  generous ;  for  whether 
it  gets  a  full  hundred  cents  in  value  for  every  dollar's  expen- 
diture on  public  education  depends  very  largely  upon  tiie 
abiUty,  sound  judgment,  and  fidelity  of  the  superintendent.* 
All  this  will  appear  readily  if  one  examines  the  list  of 
functions  which  the  superintendent  has  to  perform.  His 
powers  are  broad  and  his  responsibilities  are  heavy,  fint 
among  his  ordinary  duties  is  that  of  selecting  new  teachers. 
In  many  cities  the  application  of  the  competitive  plan 
1.  sdeotion  of  choosiug  teachers  has  greatly  limited  the  superintendent's 
range  of  choice,  but  even  in  such  places  he  must  still  take 
the  responsibility  of  making  final  selections  from  the  list 
of  those  who  stand  highest  at  the  regular  tests.  In  some 
cities  the  superintendent  actually  appoints  new  teachen, 
in  others  (and  these  constitute  the  great  majority)  he 
merely  nominates  and  the  school  board  makes  the  app<»nt- 
ment ;  but  the  distinction  is  not  one  of  great  importance, 
for  if  the  superintendent  and  the  board  are  working  in  hat- 
mony  the  advice  of  the  former  is  almost  never  disr^iarded 
in  tlds  matter.  On  the  other  hand,  there  is  a  good  deal  to  be 
said  for  the  practice  of  leaving  the  formal  appointing  power 
in  the  hands  of  the  board,  for  the  community  is  likely  to  be 
much  better  satisfied  with  teachers  who  have  been  employed 
by  representatives  of  local  public  opinion.  Most  superin- 
tendents prefer  this  plan.  So  with  the  suspension  or  dismi»- 
sal  of  teachers :    the  most  satisfactory  arrangement,  as  ex- 


*  The  beat  oomioeliaDrive  diMmMkm  of  the  superintMulMit't  qnaliflaip 
tiong,  term,  Mid  powera  is  that  contained  in  A.  H.  Chambolain'i  Ont^ 
of  ReapontibUity  and  EtUargemetU  of  Power  of  the  City  School  SuperifUmi- 
ent  (Univerdty  of  Ci^orni*  Poblioation,  Berkley,  IQIS).  An  exodkot 
tabular  ranunary  is  appended  to  thia  atudy.  For  aomewhat  toter  fignnar 
Bee  r.  W.  Ballou,  Tht  AppointtneiU  of  Tnehen  in  CiUu  (CambridCB. 
1915).  pp.  147-165. 


BCHOOL  ADMINISTRATION 


875 


penence  shows  is  for  the  school  board  to  retain  this  power 
but  toexercise  it  only  upon  advice  of  the  superintendent;  un- 
less  good  reason  for  contrary  action  should  appear 
Another  duty  usuaUy  devolved  upon  the  superintendent  is 

thatofarranj^,thea88ignment8ofteacher8,theprogranune8  a.  a«i^ 
of  study,  and  the  methods  of  instruction.    All  tWs  isdWto  S*H^ 
a  considerable  «rtent  in  conference  with  school  prin^^a^  S^ST" 
bu  the  responsiLihty  rests  largely  with  the  superintendent 
Objections  are  sometimes  heard  to  the  effect  that  this  wide 
executive  discretion  wiU  dull  the  edge  of  local  initiative,^d 
VS       1  P~f^o^  standardising  of  programmed  and 
methods  without  proper  deference  to  the  requirements  of 
individual  communities.    Yet  the  fact  .emS  that  in  any 
school  system  genuine  flexibility  is  much  more  likely  to  l^ 
mamtamed  by  a  competent  expert  th*-  through  the  efforts 

bl£"?lr*"r?  J'^^  ^''^^  ^"  '^^  ^»y^  the  me™ 
oership  of  the  school  board. 

HfJ^i""^'^**"!*''*  """'*  *^  *^*^*  general  charge  of  school 

may  be,  he  must  have  a  share  in  canying  it  out.    No  svstem  '^'^ 
of  promotion  th.t  operates  autom^cally  or  i^tT^  '"""^ 
from  the  mfluence  of  the  superintendent's  judgmen"  Z 
d^Bcreticn  can  ever  be  satisfactory  to  aU  coi^Jem^.    iZ 

Zt,n„  "".T    r  f^'^  °'  *^*  arrangements  for  the  in- 
^tion  of  teachers'  work,  on  whrtevor  basis  this  may^ 

rr^^-     ^.^^V'/h«""ti«e«inidgc.iycomiectedwi^S 
tZ^f  »  "t  larger  cities  delegated  to  the  assisted 
Bupenntendentsorsup'.rvisors;   but  the  responsibility  and 
the  worry  camiot  be  delegated.    A  superintendent's  dutiw 
moreover  do  not  end  with  the  board,  1£e  teachers, ^StS 

ST^k  "u  f  ^  ^"^^«**«  <>'  *h«  wholeZ^tm^t^ 
This  he  should  be  both  able  and  willing  to  dor  .therwiseho 
gives  far  less  than  his  position  of  leade«hip       !  ^L1   ' 


I' 

11 


■p 


OvHdn- 
ttmoftiM 


vieeandthe 


376     PRINCIPLES  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


IfUNICIPAL  SCHOOL  IIANAOEMENT 

The  school  is  not  only  a  unit  of  instruction  but  a  unit 
of  administration  as  well.  Its  organisation  is  hierarchical : 
the  lines  of  responsibility  should  all  converge  upward.  The 
principal  or  head-master  is  the  officer  in  command ;  though 
he  should  still  have  all  the  t<^aching  qualifications  that  are 
demanded  from  the  best  teachers  under  him,  his  chief  work, 
it  must  be  remembered,  is  of  an  administrative  character. 
The  principal  is  in  inunediate  charge  of  his  school's  pro- 
gramme, its  methods,  and  its  discipline.  "  As  is  the  priocipal, 
so  is  the  school.  Upon  the  independence,  skill,  and  qualities 
of  leadership  displayed  by  the  principal  depend  primarily 
the  ideals,  standards,  and  achievements  of  teachers  and 
pupils."  *  He  instructs  the  teachers  in  fjl  matters  per- 
taining to  their  daily  duties ;  he  has  general  charge  of  all 
school  records ;  he  usually  has  supervision  of  the  heating, 
ventilation,  and  janitorial  service ;  he  makes  the  required  re- 
ports to  the  superintendent ;  he  is,  in  a  word,  the  responsible 
administrative  head  of  his  school.  Directly  below  him  comes 
the  subordinate  administrative  and  teaching  staff,  ranged  ac- 
cording to  ranks  that  differ  from  city  to  city.  Among  all  of 
these  it  is  essential  that  the  grades  of  seniority  should  be 
clearly  fixed ;  authoritr'  ought  to  be  so  defined  that  there 
can  be  no  conflict.  In  these  respects  the  school  department 
should,  and  usually  does,  set  an  admirable  example  to  all 
other  branches  of  municipal  administration. 

The  essential  fentures  of  the  civil-service  system  re- 
ceived recognition  in  the  selectior  of  public-school  teachers 
long  before  they  were  applied  to  appointments  in  any  other 
municipal  department.  To  most  persons  the  relation  of 
professional  expertness  to  success  is  more  obvious,  if  not  more 
intimate,  in  school  service  than  in  the  work  of  the  water  or 
the  assessing  departmoit,  for  example.  Moreover,  the  public 
mind  more  quickly  reconciled  itseljf  to  the  use  of  a  eompeti- 

>  E.  C.  Elliott,  CUy  School  Supeniiion  (Toiikw»K>ii-Httdaoii,  1014),  p.  3a 


SCHOOL  ADMINISTRATION 


377 


tive  written  examination  in  selecting  teachers  than  in  ehooa- 
ingaMesBoni  or  water  Buperintendents.    There  are  few  citie. 
m  the  counto'  which  do  not  now  select  the  teac^  for  S 
pubUc  schools  by  some  system  that  demand,  from  il  a^ 
pomtees  a^mmum  certificate  of  professional  preparation 
supplemented  often  by  local  tests  as  weU.    ThSet«te^ 
competitive ;  they  are  designed  to  ascertain  ^Z^e  ^ 
auve  8chokM,c  attaimnent  of  those  who  apply,  briSw 
their  reUtive  proficiency  in  teaching  methods.    pVim  am«^ 
^Znn    «  *"^.,^«^«*'  but  subject  often  to  the  requi^ 
ment  of  local  residence,  the  superintendent  makes  his^ecom^ 
menda  ions  to  the  school  board.    Discretion  to  no^^ 
any  one  among  the  highest  three  or  four  is  highly  deS^e^ 
smee  physical  and  social  fitness  bear  an  iSate  Xtion 
to  teaching  success  and  yet  canirot  bediscerr^  by  anyof  ihe 
ordmaiy  academic  tests.    The  pe«onal  jud^^^olZ 

the  fact  that  such  discretion  may  and  often  does  ipenZ 
door  part-way  to  influences  of  favoritism  and  pohticT 
As  a  matter  of  working  machinery  for  the  application  of 

L^TTr^'.^'V^  ^^  superintendent  and  assistant  tT^ 

he  bo«^  of  education,  as  in  Cincimiati.  Thes^^^e« 
cortrfy  the  namt^  of  successful  candidates,  and  theTpZ^" 
ments  are  made  by  the  school  board  either  on  le^^Tm- 
mendation  of  the  superintendent  or  on  that  of  the  Ss 
staadmg  committee  on  teachers.  The  pUm  of  havC^e 
supennte.dent  make  the  nomimitions  diLtlyto  CSJl 
has  been  found  to  be  the  more  satisfactory.* 

the  nmhW  *^*  ^  f  '   ^"^^^  °^   appointment  is  Th.p„>- 
the  problem  presented  by  the  matter  of  promotion.    It  '~*^"' 

'  The  bert  detailed  rtudy  of  thi«  whole  matter  kF  w  n.ii.>..>    a 
enstiiig  nuMhiiiery  of  ezuninu^Tl^'  ^  I'         **™*  diowiiig  the 


878     PRIN0IPLB8  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMIMI8TRATI0K 


Tniaiag 

Mhodafmr 

tMdten. 


is  generally  conceded  nowaday!  that  promotiona  oof^t 
neither  to  be  determined  by  mere  seniority  of  aervioe,  nor, 
on  the  other  hand,  to  be  left  wholly  to  the  discretion  of 
the  superintendent  or  the  school  board.  Teaching  effi- 
ciency, it  is  generally  agreed,  should  be  the  determining 
factor ;  but  the  problem  of  establishing  a  fair  and  dependa- 
ble plan  of  measuring  the  relative  merits  of  many  teachers 
is  by  no  means  an  ea^  one.  Some  cities  use  promotional 
examinations,  with  certain  credits  added  for  outside  acadonie 
study ;  others  add  to  this  the  reports,  favorable  or  adverse, 
of  school  supervisors  and  principals,  —  records  which  are 
often  required  to  be  in  great  detail.  It  is  desirable  that  the 
tests  for  promotion  should  be  objective  and  imp  rsonal  to 
such  an  extent  that  they  will  prevent  favoritism  or  partiality ; 
yet  from  the  nature  of  things  they  can  never  be  wholly  so. 
Those  commonly  in  use,  being  chiefly  a  composite  of  exami* 
nation  results  and  personal  opinions,  are  both  objective  and 
subjective ;  and  this  is,  in  principle,  what  they  ought  to  be. 
No  doubt  they  will  be  greatly  improved  in  their  details  as 
time  goes  on.* 

As  regards  both  appointments  and  promotions  the  problem 
of  the  city  school  authorities  is  greatly  simplified  by  the 
work  of  the  training  school,  —  or  the  normal  school,  as  it  is 
commonly  called.  This  is  the  institution  from  which  the 
teaching  staff  is  chiefly  recruited.'  It  is  usually  under  state 
control,  though  some  of  the  largest  dties,  such  as  New 
York  and  Chicago,  have  such  schools  of  their  own ;  and  its 
curriculum  combines  academic  with  professional  training. 
When  properly  organized  and  conducted,  the  normal  schod 
is  a  dependable  agency  for  weeding  out  the  unit  aspii^ 
ants  for  public-school  positions  and,  more  important  still, 
for  giving  proper  teaching  equipment  to  those  who  have 

>  See  the  artiole  on  "Pnnnotioii  tit  Teaehen"  in  the  CydopMa  if  Sd*- 
eoHtm  (ed.  P«hU  Monroe.  6  voIb.,  New  York.  1911-1913). 

*TlMre  ii  a  full  Moonnt  at  the  owthods  and  wOTk  of  theee  iutitatioiii 
in  Frank  A.  Manny*!  CUy  Trainint  SehooU  for  Teaelura  (United  Statd 
Bureau  of  Education,  Bvttttin,  1914,  No.  47). 


■CBOOL  ADMDII8TRATI0N 


879 


the  wquinte  menUI  and  pemmal  quiOitiei.  It  lus,  how- 
ever, been  ilow  to  nuke  the  most  of  ita  pombilitiee  in  eoiH 
nectwn  with  Mhemes  of  promotions.  Its  opportunity  to  idp 
teachen  who  are  aetuaUy  in  lervice  by  providing  evening  or 
vacation  inrtniction,  for  example,  so  that  thiy  may  equip 
themselves  for  higher  grades  has  until  reeenUy  bera  made 
use  of  to  a  very  slight  extent. 

A  word  or  two  should  also  be  said  oonoeming  the  insti- 
tutions  of  higher  education  which  a  few  cities  maintain  out  M«ddp.i 
of  their  pubfio  funds  and  which  are  intended  to  serve  as  the  '^'^ 
crown  of  the  local  school  system.  The  most  conspicuous 
examples  are  New  York,  Cincinnati,  and  Dayton,  each  of 
which  supports  a  municipal  college  or  univeraity.  In  each 
case,  moreover,  tuition  is  substantiaUy  free  to  aU  residents 
of  the  municipality.  The  provision  of  higher  education, 
free  of  tmtion  charges,  is  a  policy  which  other  cities  are 
quite  hkely  to  adopt  in  the  coune  of  time. 

THB  SCHOOLHOUra  AMD  HB  BQUIPMKNT 

The  schoolhouse,  as  has  been  weU  said,  is  one  of  the  best 
exprMsions  of  American  civic  life.    It  stands  for  the  most  TU-hooi. 
worthy  of  our  national  ideals;  we  like  to  call  it  the  citadel  ""^ 
of  our  democracy.    Throughout  the  cities  of  this  country  »•  toi- 
the  school  buildings  present  a  striking  example  of  pubUc  '"*'**• 
generosity.    They  represent  an  enormous  expenditure  of 
money  and  thought.    It  has  been  estimated  that  the  amount 
invested  m  our  pubhc^whool  property,  rural  and  urban, 
exceeds  a  billion  dollars,  of  which  the  larger  part  is  in  the 
cities  and  towns.    Alike  in  impressiveness  of  construction 
and  m  architectural  good  taste  there  has  been  a  ateady  im- 
provement during  the  last  few  decades.    In  no  respect  do 
they  suffer  in  comparison  with  the  schoolhouses  of  other 
lands. 

In  the  matter  of  schoolhouse  location  a  few  general  prin- 
ciples must  be  kept  in  mind  if  mistakes  are  to  be  avoided.  Li""** 


S.  IteplMf 

Bingwd 

•oiMtiue- 


880     PRINCIPLI8  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMIN18T1UTI0N 

A  good  Mhool  lite  mutt  b«  emtnl,  that  is,  H  mtwt  be  ratdiljr 
accessible  to  the  pupils.  But  in  the  determinatioii  of  thki 
matter  regard  must  be  had  to  the  future  as  well  as  to  the 
present.  The  shifting  of  population  in  American  cities  is 
often  so  rapid  that  a  schoolhouse  which  is  the  very  centre  of 
a  residential  district  to-day  may  be  surrounded  l^  places  <rf 
business  twenty  years  hmce.  The  apparent  drift  of  popula> 
tion,  the  direction  of  businew  growth,  and  all  such  rele  'snt 
factors  should  therefore,  so  far  as  they  can  be  foreseen,  be 
taken  into  consideration  in  the  sdection  of  a  proper  locati<ni 
for  an  elementary  school.  Besides  being  accessible,  the  nte 
should  be  high  and  dry,  q>acious  enou|^  for  all  needs,  and 
not  in  dose  proximity  to  a  source  of  danger,  such  as  a  rivw 
or  a  railroad.  When  the  problem  of  finding  a  site  is  actual^ 
taken  in  hand,  however,  it  usually  turns  out  that  a  combina- 
tion  of  all  these  qualities  is  hard  to  find.  In  such  cases 
accessibility  is  often  permitted  to  outwdj^  other  conddora* 
tioDs  of  equal  or  even  greater  importance ;  for  it  ia  difficult  to 
convince  parents  that  the  hardship  of  walking  a  few  hundred 
extra  yards  is  far  len  serious  than  the  evils  which  must  arise 
from  keeping  school  children  eveiy  day  in  a  congested  or  aa 
unsanitary  region,  cramped  for  playground  space  and  amid 
the  din  of  hurrying  multitudes.^  Still  more  unfortimateljr, 
the  political  pressure  of  those  who  have  land  to  sell  has  too 
often  been  an  influential  factor  in  the  choice  of  unsuitable 
locations. 

Schoolhouse  construction  also  presents  its  own  problons, 
for  such  buildings  make  unusual  demands  in  the  way  of  fire- 
resisting  quality,  ventilation,  lighting,  and  the  acoustic 
properties  of  the  interior.  In  all  these  matters,  howeva, 
such  remarkable  progress  has  been  made  during  the  last 
generation  that  most  school  buildings  of  reeoit  con- 
struction embody  the  fruits  of  great  sldU  and  ingenuity 

>  A  MDiible  diMUMkm  of  thew  mstten  it  MmUined  ia  F.  B.Dwlar'i 
Amtriean  8ehooihou$tt  (United  SUtM  Bureftu  at  EdoMtioii,  BvOetin, 
1910,  No.  6),  pp.  1-10. 


•OHOOL  ADMOniTIUTION 


881 


in  the  thing,  j«t  «ttnierat«l.  TTm  intarter  d^lgiiin,  of 
■ehoolhouM  hM  bMome  m  dittfawtly  mi  m3^,!i 

Bhowy  «rterior.»  It  foe.  without  wying,  howro  iLt 
no  ««gle  type  of  «hoolho««,  i.  «dted  to  tl^^'ofS 
«>mmumtie..    EiM,h  city,  Mid  indeed  ewh  .ectio^.d^ 

ha.  It.  own  requfa^ment.,  wUeh  murt  be  pwperiy  met ;  bii 
the  niMnlUne.  of  efficient  whoolhouee  dS^^ii^Z 

weUagreedupon.    The  wtuid  work  of  conSuctionTJ^i^ 

J  !?^?^*^*^^*"^«*»"*««^-  SomecitieehaveSS 
he  direct-labor  i^yrtem,  but  not  with  marked  niece.,  ^^ 

V  WK  "T^  !"  "^y  VeeW  branche.  of  skiUedlibw 
whjch  the  city  rarely  keq»  in  iU  regular  employ.    Ado«^ 

there  mu^  be  masons,  carpenters,  pUstewis,  plumbers. 
pamters,.«isoon.  In  this,  as  in  olher  depiSZHf 
pubhc  work,  there  has  of  cou«e  been  some  abSeof^  «,^ 

rs;'"**^'^-^««*-**^^-t«etor'.:;;: 

It  is  worth  whfle  to  raise  the  queiy  whether  the  present 

^^eZTJl T^  "^  "f^°^^  buildup ««,perb  JL  £^*  ^^ 
«ve  m  Its  style,"  and  a  "worthy  monument  to  civic  prWe,"  ■^'' 
u.  not  m  danger  of  overreaching  itself.    TTie  public  is  givii 
a  ready  ear  to  the  enthusiast  who  demands  Lt  ouJS^ 
buJd^ahaU  be-noblertemplesin  which  theT^^^ 
and  bodies  of  our  youth  may  better  adjust  themselve;  to  tS 
dman^f  a  practical  civic  brotherhood,"  -  whatev  J^J 
may  mean     In  response  to  such  clamor  many  cities  aie 
^tmg  school  bmldings  that  are  designed  to  ^^rt^e  Tor  a^ 
feast  fifty  years  to  come.    This  is  particuUriy  true  of  hiA 
«hool8,  but  It  IS  to  some  extent  the  case  with  our  giSnZr 
whoolsasweU.    The  buildings  will  no  doubt  be  ^^ 

«-Vt  (New  YoS,  l&rind*  W  ofcj''??  A,yrtea»i  Schod  BuOd- 
MMwaukee.  IMO).  '  ®™*  '  ****  ^rekOtetMn  (4th  •<!., 


383     PRINOIPLli  OF  MimiCIPAL  ADMINISTIUTION 


loUdlj  a  half-eeiituiy  heuM,  tmt  will  Umj  Uwb  be  vil 
adapted  to  their  purpoM?  Qnat  ihifta  in  populatioii  oom 
about  in  five  decades,  aa  the  hiitoiy  of  all  mir  large  eitia 
atteata,  and  still  greater  dutngss  take  plaee  in  edueaUoasl 
methods.  Forty  puinls  may  be  the  nmrmal  assignment  te 
each  schoolroom  to-day,  but  thirty  may  well  be  aeeoontsd 
the  proper  quota  by  a  future  goMration.  A  half-century  sgs 
our  school  buildings  were  planned  to  h<dd  about  fifty  piqpfli 
per  room,  and  they  had  no  labor&toriesforteaohingthesckoMS, 
no  sMcimhly  hsils,  nftgyiff"f'""»*,  no  hmdMOoms,  no  teachsmi^ 
offices.  If  a  schoolhouse  built  in  the  days  of  Gettysburg  and 
Appomattox,  even  thou^  its  walls  l  of  adamant,  is  alto* 
gether  unsuited  to  the  recognised  needs  of  to-day,  may  act 
the  next  fifty  years  bring  changes  even  more  radical?  Thin 
is  a  good  deal  to  be  said,  therefore,  for  the  policy  of  buildiBg 
the  schoolhouse  in  an  economical  yet  substantial  way,  wift 
the  idea  that  it  will  have  outlived  its  usefuhiess  in  a  siofls 
generation.  If  its  location  or  design  has  then  beccnne  ua> 
suitable,  it  can  be  sold  and  the  proceeds  applied  in  part  to  the 
erection  of  a  new  building  dsewhore.  The  practice  <rf 
remodelling  an  old  school  building  which  has  become  oat- 
grown  has  rarely  proved  economical.  The  man  who  advo- 
cates simplicity  and  thrift  in  the  matter  of  schoolhouw 
design  is  not  likely  to  increase  his  popularity  in  any  nei^lMX^ 
hood ;  yet  he  will  perform  a  genuine  public  service  by  caUisg 
attention  to  the  improvident  use  of  the  city's  resources  whidi 
the  policy  of  erecting  these  palatial  schoolhouses  very  often 
involves.  There  are  many  more  economical  ways  of  "fos- 
tering an  SBsthetic  sense  among  the  people"  than  by  building 
schoolhouses  of  marble  and  budding  their  cornices  with 
carved  gargoyles. 


CENTRAUZED   CONTEOl.  OF  CTTT   SCHOOLS 

In  the  matter  of  state  control  over  education  there  is  s 
marked  difference  between  the  United  States  and  the  oooa- 


■OHOOL  AmimivnuTioN 

triei  <rf  Eu«)pe.    Tl»  kiyiiot.  <rf  lMt,p.tn  «^ 

tntion  k  ecatralitttioD  Md  unifomiHy.    In  aU  eMM  then 

•w  local  •ohod  »uthoriti«i,  but  thv  do  not  h»v»  the  drtermi. 
Mtoon  of  tenenl  qu«stiont  of  eduMtkHuU  poUey.  Thta 
functiOT  it  MMimed  by  the  centnl  depwtmentTeducatfcm 
«r  pubUe  jetton.  In  Bnghurf,  for  «ump|e,  the  na^ 
tioMi  board  of  education  determinea  the  qualifieationa  ot 
teachen,  fixes  Uiepiofranunea  of  lehoolatudiea,  and  piovidea 
the  offioala  who  inapeet  dty  achoob  throughout  the  Idnc- 
dom.  Even  the  pUna  of  new  aohool  buiWinp  muat  be  Bub- 
mitted  to  ita  approval.  In  Phiaala  the  work  of  each  dty'a 
•ehool  committee  (adt^De/nOatim)  k  diroetfy  auperviaed 
by  a  provincial  achool  boaid  which  ia  buroaucntirk  or- 
giiuiation,  and  theae  boarda  an  in  turn  under  the  aupei^ 
vttoiy  control  of  the  miniatiy  of  education.  In  Fimnoe  the 
centrahiation  ia  mow  direct  and  mow  neariy  complete  than 
m  either  England  or  Rruaaia.    About  the  only  function  left 

to  the  local  authoritiea  there  ia  that  of  pro viding  the  neocBMry 
school  buildings  TTie  control  of  theae  building^  however, 
together  with  the  whole  management  of  elementary  achoob 
M  verted  m  the  handa  of  national  officers,  chiefly  in  thoae  of 
the  prefect,  who  appointa  aU  the  teaohera.  Theae  officiala. 
m  turn,  are  responsible  to  the  minister  of  pubUc  instruction. 
Ukm  as  a  whole,  the  American  system  of  public  educaUon 

rtands  out  m  aharp  contrast  with  the  methods  of  these  ooun- 
tnea.  The  kqmote  of  Ame  Jean  poKcy  is  local  autonomy. 
A  varying  degree  of  centrali.ed  control  may  be  found  amonc 
the  several  states,  and  this  jurisdiction  haa  tended  to  inh 
crease  during  the  last  thirty  years;  but  in  general  the  schools 
we  stiU  bmlt,  managed,  and  financed  in  large  measure  by 
ocal  authorities.  Whatever  the  merita  or  the  defects  of 
tius  pohey,  It  at  least  embodies  a  traditional  difference  be- 
tween American  and  European  methods. 

Strictly  speaking,  the  federal  government  of  the  United 
otatM  has  no  mandatory  authority  over  the  systems  of  pub- 
he  education  in  the  various  states.    Inasmuch  as  the  na- 


384     PRINCIPLES  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


C«ntnl 

eontrolof 

■ehoolaiii 

Um  United 

SUtM 

Bureau  o( 
Education. 


State 

boudaof 

education. 


tional  constitution  has  not  a  word  to  say  about  education  or 
schools,  the  subject  falls  witirely  within  the  purview  of  the 
states.     The  federal  government  does,  however,  maintain  a 
bureau  of  education,  to  the  support  of  which  it  devotes  a 
small  appropriation  each  year.    The  chief  function  of  this  in- 
stitution has  been  to  conduct  investigations  into  educational 
poUcies  and  methods  both  at  home  and  abroad,  to  gather 
data,  to  make  suggestions,  and  to  publish  for  the  infomur 
tion  of  local  school  authorities  in  all  parts  of  the  land  its  coo- 
elusions  and  recommendations.*    It  has  no  power  to  put  uy 
of  its  recommendations  into  active  operation,  but  its  in&h 
ence  in  promoting  general  educational  progress  has  been  large. 
Some  degree  of  central  control  over  local  school  manage- 
ment has  been  exercised  in  nearly  all  the  states  of  the  Union 
from  the  very  beginning.    Since,  however,  in  many  of  than 
this  authority  has  been  steadily  strengthened,  whereas  in 
others  it  has  made  little  progress,  one  finds  the  widest  varisr 
tion  existing  to-day.    The  greatest  amount  of  centralisar 
tion  appears  in  Louisiana,  where  local  autonomy  in  school 
matters  has  all  but  disappeared;    the   least  remains  in 
Massachusetts  and  Pennsylvania,  where  the  local  school 
authorities  are  subjected  to  only  the  sUghtest  restraint  by 
any  state  authority.    Between  these  two  extremes  there 
are  all  degrees  of  local  freedom  and  curtailment.    Evofy 
state  has  established  a  central  board  of  education  or  some- 
thing of  the  sort.'    Frequently  this  is  an  ex  officio  hoij 
made  up  of  dengnated  state  officials,  as  in  West  T^^ 
ginia,  or  of  representatives  from  certain  higher  edueationel 
institutions,  as  in  Galifomia.    Sometimes  its  members  are 
chosen  by  the  governor,  as  in  Massachusetts ;  or  in  part 
by  the  state  legislat\ire,  as  in  Connecticut ;   or  thqr  are 


>  8.  T.  Dutton  and  David  Saeddea.  AdminUlratum  of  PwiUe 
(ion,  ah.  iii  (The  National  Ctovernmant  and  Eduoation).  8m  •■• 
United  State*  Bureau  ot  Eduoation,  LUl  of  PMieationt  aoaUabUfor  tm 
DUtHbution  (BuMin,  1912,  No.  25),  pp.  1-37. 

*  I.  W.  Howerth,  StaU  Board*  of  BdueaUon  (Univenity  ot 
PuMioation.  Berkeley.  1M3,  24  pp.). 


SCHOOL  ADMINISTRATION 


885 


m  part  elected  by  popular  vote,  •.  in  varioua  W«tem 

The  powers  and  duties  assigned  t^  these  boards  differ 
as  widely  as  their  methods  of  organisation.    la  sZ  ste^  ow 
theirpowersare  largely  of  anadvisory  nature;  in^h^lj,^  2^ 
mdudesuch  Jin^  as  the  direct  management  of  certaT^te 
ms^itutions,  the  distribution  of  state  funds  in  the  TrTiJ 
subsidies  to  schools,  the  selection  of  text-books,  the  a^vi 
of  plansforwhool  buildings,  the  certification  of  tlhe«Id 

ment  of  schools  by  the  local  authorities.*    Somet^«X 

fthll^T'^''**'^*^^^"*''^*^^^  But  tiie  final  p<2tion 
of  the  rtate  board  as  an  integral  factor  in  American%duc^ 
tion  IS  stiU  unsettled.    There  is  a  tendency  to  givTit  mol^ 

Along  with  the  state  board  of  education  as  a  supervSur 

™onTlSr">*™!?°"'    He«««^tometh^  SSS 
of  selection,  as  weU  asm  regard  to  powers  and  responsibilitv 

IUrT!t"i^*  ^^'^"^  ^  practice^TTS 
majonty  of  the  states  the  office  is  filled  by  doduIht  JL^. 

mthe  others  the  selection  is  made  ^iheX^ot t  t^e' 

^tel^ard  of  education.    TTie  su^rint^dent  o^^^' 

^ner  IS  a  salaried  officer,  and  his  administrative  duties 

whether  under  the  direction  of  the  state  board  of  eJuaS 

or  not)  are  numerous  and  varied.    As  a  rule,  his  main  duW 

L  woTT'  *?'  "^^^^  °'  *°<"^  schools,^udS^ 
the  work  of  county  or  city  superintendents;  bit  a  dos^ 
other  less  miportant  functions  go  along  with  this.  ^  Jhe 

nwt  of  TawhinJ.  CMMgie  Foundatloo  to  the  AdvMMe. 

2c 


386     PRINCIPLES  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINI8TIUTI0N 


Should 

thoebe 

greater 

eentralii*- 

tioar 


interest  of  efficient  and  harmonious  action  it  is  imperativs 
that  the  state  superintendent  and  the  state  board  of  educ»» 
tion  should  work  together.  The  proper  position  of  the 
former  is  that  of  the  board's  chief  executive  officer;  aiqr 
other  arrangement  invites  friction.  Hence  the  Massachn* 
setts  plan  of  leaving  the  selection  of  this  official  to  the  state 
board  has  much  to  be  said  in  its  favor. 

The  extent  to  which  the  state  ought  to  go  in  the  arardN 
of  supervision  and  control  over  city  schools  is  a  debatal^ 
question.  In  this,  as  in  all  other  branches  of  municipal  ad- 
ministration, it  is  plausible  and  popular  to  argue  that  the 
first  duty  of  the  state  is  to  leave  the  municipality  akme, 
particularly  when  the  latter  bears  nearly  the  entire  cost  d 
maintaining  its  schools.  But  this  lai»9e»-faire  policy,  if 
carried  to  its  logical  conclusion,  would  allow  some  communi- 
ties to  make  no  provision  for  public  education  at  all.  In  tl» 
interest  of  its  future  citixenship  the  state  decrees  that  all 
towns  and  cities  shall  provide  free  elementary  schools,  and 
to-day  no  sensible  citizen  objects  to  that  decree  as  being  too 
paternal  or  as  violating  any  principle  of  local  autonomy. 
Now,  if  the  state  is  Justified  in  ordering  that  schools  be  pro- 
vided from  public  funds,  can  it  logically  be  inhibited  from 
making  sure  that  these  schools  are  efficiently  serving  the 
purpose  for  which  their  establishment  was  ordored?  To 
let  each  mimicipaUty  do  as  it  pleases  in  such  matters  is  to 
let  some  lag  far  behind.  Entire  freedom  means  that  the 
school  qrstem  of  each  town  or  city  will  diffw  from  all  the 
others,  that  there  is  likely  to  be  no  uniformity  in  the  quali- 
fications for  teachers,  in  the  programme  of  studies,  or  in  tiie 
kind  of  books  used.  Such  lack  of  coordination  among  adja- 
cent commimities  can  hardly  present  more  merits  than  draw^ 
backs,  especially  when  the  population  is  as  fluid  as  it  is  in  ^ 
cities  of  this  country.  One  may  readily  recognise  many 
plain  objections  to  strait-jacket  methods  in  public  educa- 
tion, but  may  at  the  same  time  logically  ui^  the  doctrine 
that,  on  all  matters  of  general  teaching  policy,  a  pntpaif 


w 


SCHOOL  ADMINISTRATION 


887 


constituted  state  board  is  in  a  better  position  to  pass  judg- 
ment than  is  a  local  school  committee.' 

NEEDED  IMPROVEMBNra  IN  CTIT  SCHOOL  ADlDNIffTRATION 

Some  of  the  arguments  for  centralized  control  and  aupei^ 
vision  of  city  schools  would  lose  much  of  their  cogency  if  How  to 
mumcipal  school  boards  would  exert  greater  endeavor  to  &:Sooi 
put  these  institutions  upon  a  business  basis.    To  do  this   ^<^^- 
however,  it  is  first  of  aU  necessary  to  devise  an  informing 
wid  trustworthy  system  of  records  and  statistical  reports. 
Taking  American  cities  as  a  whole,  one  finds  that  there  is 
even  at  the  present  day  an  astounding  Uck  of  accurate  knowl- 
edge concerning  such  elementary  things  as  the  value  of  school 
buUdings,  their  capacity,  the  annual  cost  per  enroUed  pupil, 
the  rektion  between  age  and  school  attendance,  the  causes 
of  absence  from  school,  and  a  hundred  other  factors  on  which 
dependable  information  ought  to  be  at  hand.*    In  very  few 
dties  of  the  United  States,  for  example,  do  the  school  au- 
thonties  know  year  by  year  how  many  children  of  a  given 
age  are  entitled  to  attend  the  public  schools.    True,  the 
state  laws  often  require  an  annual  school  census ;  but  these 
enumerations  are  rarely  accurate  or  complete  and  the  results 
are  seldom  chissified  properly.'    Yet  the  ratio  of  actual  to 
possible  school  attendance  is  one  of  the  best  tests  of  rel- 
ative school  efficiency. 
If  a  municipal  school  board  is  to  give  the  community  full 

,  » The  various  nuota  for  aud  agunst  eentoalisatioii  an  v«it  indi- 
Mouriy  •uiMn*ri«jd  by  B.  T.  Dutton  and  David  Swdden.  r  JaLSJI 
^^  PMic  BducatUm  in  tk*  UniM  SUU»  (New  ^11.1912)!^^ 

K-'iSS!*?**  «tewrtlii«  dtaMudon  of  "Impcnaat  Queatioiu  not  annrorad 
^  Bxirting  Reporti,"  to  D. a  Snedden  and  W. hT Alton's &»«5j^nS 
«u^^S^fi.^fc^(N^  York.  1908).  oh.  V.    Oomp«o  atooTpS^ 

4.'/;  ?^  5"^°^  "Attaining  EiBoienoy  in  City  Sehool  Systems."  In 
WO  Say.  wdr'^''  "  '^  '*"'**"'  ""^  ***^  Sci^!T^l9^ 


388     PRINCIPLES  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


The  need 
(or  better 
■ebooldata. 


Interpret- 
ing theae 
date. 


value  for  the  large  sums  devoted  each  year  to  the  cause  of 
public  education,  accurate  knowledge  of  the  facts  is  the  first 
essential.  To  gain  this  knowledge  requires  a  great  deal  of 
patient  effort  and  some  outlay  of  money.  It  may  even  ne- 
cessitate a  comprehensive  school  survey  like  those  which  have 
been  carried  through  in  several  cities  during  recent  years. 
Data,  classified  both  by  ages  and  by  sections  of  the  munici- 
pality, should  be  readily  available  regarding  the  number  of 
children  in  the  city,  as  to  the  amount  of  schooling  which 
the  pupils  are  actually  receiving  and  the  quality  of  the  in- 
struction, as  to  its  cost  per  pupil  according  to  the  type  of 
instruction  given,  and  in  regard  t.)  many  other  matters. 
These  figures,  it  need  scarcely  be  added,  should  be  com- 
piled annually  on  a  uniform  basis,  so  that  the  statistics  d 
one  year  or  of  one  school  may  be  fairly  comparable  with 
those  of  another. 

The  gathering  of  data,  however,  is  not  the  only  thing  nec- 
essary to  an  accurate  knowledge  of  school  facts ;  their  study 
and  interpretation  are  ahso  of  prime  importance.  To  many 
persons  the  idea  that  education  can  or  should  be  submitted 
to  the  recognized  tests  of  scientific  btisiness  management  is 
not  at  all  palatable.  They  take  no  interest  in  tabulated  costs 
of  instruction  per  student  per  hour,  they  tell  us,  because  a 
school  caimot  be  run  on  the  same  basis  as  a  cotton  mill.  It 
is  true  enough  that  such  figures  may  be  misused  and  thus 
produce  more  harm  than  good.  A  minimum  cost  of  opera- 
tion per  ton-mile  may  be  an  indication  of  good  railroad 
management,  but  to  pronounce  as  the  most  efficient  that 
school  which  shows  the  lowest  cost  per  student-hour  would 
be  absiud.  The  dangers  of  the  so-termed  efficiency  mov^ 
ment  as  applied  to  the  schools  arise  not  from  the  collection 
of  facts  but  from  the  possibility  of  their  being  misinterpreted. 
Against  such  perversion  of  good  intent  the  only  safeguard 
is  that  which  a  school  board  of  soudble  men  will  of  it- 
self provide.  The  need  for  better  school  records  and  re- 
ports is  b^ond  question,  and  the  way  to  get  them  has  been 


SCaOOL  ADMINISTRATION  339 

^Uyf^  ly  «.«.  who  Uv.  .MM  the  „bj«t  ttcw 

SCHOOL  FINANCB 

fees ,.  Dever  Urge ;  for  there  are  u.uUly  no  feLTrinZ  SZ'^ 
gmmmw  «J,„oU,  u>d  those  which  are  chZS  t  ti-  v  1!  ^^-^ 

»  a  fund  W  whiehtaoo'^fj^^l^S'ril^eT.t 
Slates  denve  a  considerable  part  of  what  i«  r>.u^^  >t     ^ 

jportof  aDtheirp«bUcsch<S,tl"Nt:i:X1i^^^^^ 
about  45  per  cent  comes  from  that  source.    CTle 

tlwJ'T  '~  ^  ^°^^^^  ^  t^  regard^!  t 
the  third  place,  some  income  is  had  from^te  grantT'ou^ 
of  general  revenue,  but  the  poHcy  of  subsidizing  the  s  hris 
rom  state  revenue  is  not  one  that  has  been  foUow^  1 
formly.  Many  states  (Iowa.  Kansas  OrP^T  .°"°'^®^  "f*: 
£  ^^-t  nothing  atU;  o^.Tcl^'^f^S^ 

Sv'to  s^'rV"^  -nddei^bH  butCZt^ 
part  only  to  schools  m  the  poorer  rural  communities  leavC 
the  city  schools  to  look  out  for  themselveT  I^  v?J^ 
0   er  parts  of  the  Union,  however,  paSlJm  tZT 

«rSo«'Tt:?h^r.r^'r.^ 

&A^^&°Yo^^^^f  ««»  W.  H.  Alton,  &*«rf  feport,  ««r 
lOfwf*  P-.Cu^hsi^,  SOtool  FutuU  tmd  their  >1m>««u.^    .  ^r      ^    . 
'^y-  -ao  L  W.  Howerth.  "Th.  SSXiTSrsa^dJ^ 


390     PRINCIPLES  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


LooalUun- 
tftonior 
lebod 
purpows. 


United  States  as  a  whole  the  municipality  is  ezpeeted  to 
raise  most  of  its  school  revenue  by  levying  taxes  upon  its 
own  citizens.  In  at  least  three  fourths  of  the  states  more  thaa 
half  the  total  annual  requirement  must  be  met  in  this  way, 
and  in  the  New  England  states  the  percentage  is  much 

higher. 

In  the  matter  of  raising  school  funds  by  local  taxation 
various  methods  are  pursued.  Some  states  ordain  in  their 
general  laws  that  the  city  tax  rate  must  provide  a  certain 
minimum  for  school  purposes.  In  New  York  City  this 
TnifiiTniim  is  fixed  by  the  so-called  Davis  law  at  three  dollan 
upon  every  thousand  dollars  of  assessment ;  in  Boston  it  it 
five  dollars  and  a  quarter,  and  in  Cleveland  it  is  six  dollars. 
These  items  form  substantial  factors  in  the  general  city  tax 
rate  of  from  twelve  to  twenty  dollars  on  the  thousand  of 
assessed  valuation.  In  some  other  states  the  minimum  levy 
for  public  school  ptirposes  is  set  at  so  much  per  head  of 
population  or  per  hundred  children  of  school  age.  In  many 
cases,  again,  there  is  no  guarantee  whatever  of  a  fixed  mini- 
mum, the  school  board  either  asking  the  city  coundl  for 
what  it  requires  or  proceeding  to  make  such  tax  levy  as  it 
deems  necessary.  The  plan  of  making  an  independent  levy 
is  not  often  pursued,  however,  in  such  way  as  to  involve 
a  wasteful  duplication  of  the  whole  work  of  assessing  prop- 
erty and  collecting  the  taxes.*  On  the  other  hand,  when 
it  becomes  necessary  for  the  board  of  education  to  present 
its  annual  estimates  to  the  city  council  and  allow  them 
to  be  pared  down  as  the  council  sees  fit,  there  is  always  • 
grave  danger  that  the  schools  will  suffer  in  the  intoest  of 
those  other  departments  (such  as  streets  and  public  worki) 

BdueaHonal  Reviw,  idvi.  273-284  (Ootober.  1913) ;  and  th*  reeiBtnpMti 
6t  the  United  States  CommiBsioner  of  Edooation. 

» The  policy  is,  however,  followed  in  the  school  districts  of  New  T«* 
State,  where  the  function  of  determining,  assessinK,  and  collecting  the  loeu 
taxes  for  school  purposes  is  exercised  by  the  school  trustees,  who  ea>i^ 
t*~eir  own  asseaaors  and  oolleoton.  Cf .  F.  J.  Qoodaow,  JftHwcijMi  Qtmm^ 
metU  (New  York.  1809),  p.  319. 


8CH00L  ADMINISTRATION 


891 


in  which  the  opportunitie.  for  poUtieal  patronage  are  ura. 
aUy^ater.    That  i.  the  »a«,n  why  the  proXoTfoT^ 
legal  fixed  mumnum  of  taxation  ha.  froquentiy  beTm^  * 
ThB  plan  funushee  a  convenient  solution  to  the  proto 
of  keeping  the  department  of  education  in  its  logical  pCw 
an  mtegraJ  part  of  our  general  scheme  of  muniXal  SZ 
ration,  wble  yet  making  sure  that  it  wiU  notSu^X 
from  too  great  niggardliness  at  the  hands  of  ^r^ 
ouy  authorities.    The  only  trouble  with  the  l^^ZJt^ 
that  the  new  demands  whicha  boardof  educationhastomir 
particularly  those  of  a  social  character,  -su,^«fcX  to 
wxderuseoftheschoolpknt,forpbygr<;unds,andto^^^ 
H^ct  inJTi.'^T*  r  "*  ~P^^y  than  aro  taxable  X^ 
Hence  It  is  that  school  authorities  aro  continuaDy  asldw 
ior^  mcrewe  m  the  legal  minimum  which  they  aro  enS 
to  get  out  of  tiie  annual  taxes.    TTie  roguhir  munici^  a^ 
thonties,  on  the  other  hand,  seem  always  disindinSto  1 
aside  for  school  purposes  anything  moro  than  thT^^ 

m^^l^        ^r  *^t  ~^°**^  *«*«*  constitutes™^ 
mumcipal  corporation,  however,  the  dty  councU  ha.  no 
direct  control  over  the  school  tax. 
Whatevw  the  status  of  the  Bchool  board  as  regard,  tiie 

Uons  IS  practically  complete.    The  funds  at  its  d^^  '^''^ 

se^  fit.  To  this  general  rule  thero  aro  of  oouroe  a  few  ex- 
eptions  In  «>me  states,  for  example,  a  minimi^  ^ 
or  teachem  is  fixed  by  special  kw ;  and  thero  aro^  ^ 

S^nn"'»,"',^'r*"'^  "^^^^  budget-such  ^Te 

armLlSS  ^*^ "  "^^  *«^*^°»^    »«*  the  amounts 
appropriated  for  supervision,  teaching,  equipment,  q>eciS 


!' 


392     PRINCIPLBS  OF  MTJNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

inatruetion,  efvening  schools,  medieal  inKpectioii  of  pupils, 
and  so  f ortli  it  may  m  »  rule  rearrange  with  great  freedom. 
This  freedom  is  extremely  desirable,  otherwise  the  school 
board  will  not  be  given  the  liberty  which  it  needs  in  order 
to  make  its  work  effective.  The  body  which  controls  tlM 
purse-strings  will,  in  the  long  run,  dictate  the  poUey. 
Many  serious  attempts  have  been  made  to  work  out  a 
satisfactory  system  of  unit  costs,  so  that  a  profitable  item- 
ised  comparison  of  school  esqpenditures  in  different  cities 
may  become  possible;  but  great  dispaiities  in  local  con- 
ditions and  widely  differing  methods  of  school  accounting 
have  blocked  the  way.  Cost  per  pupil  is  a  common  stand- 
ard of  comparison.  On  that  basis  even  cities  that  are 
much  alike  in  their  educational  problons  sometimes  show 
great  discrepancies.  In  Minneapolis  the  amoimt  expended 
for  teachers'  salaries  par  enrolled  pupil  is  not  much  more 
than  half  that  spent  in  St.  Louis.  Total  cost  of  schools 
per  capita  of  population  is  another  method  of  comparistm. 
On  this  basis  the  cost  is  less  than  three  dollars  in  New 
Orleans  and  neaily  five  dollars  in  Los  Angdes.  The  ratio 
of  school  expenses  to  total  municipal  expenditure  is  stiU 
another  plan.  In  San  Francisco  the  proportion  is  ab<mt 
one  fifth ;  in  Cleveland  it  is  about  one  third.  No  matter 
which  of  these  tests  is  applied,  great  dISFerences  appear 
everywhere.^  It  is  highly  desirable,  however,  that  tiw 
school  authorities  of  each  city  should  know  how  their  ap- 
propriations compare  with  those  of  other  cities  when  re- 
duced to  some  fairly  comparable  basis;  and  this  is  trae 
notwithstanding  the  danger  that  inaccurate  conclusions  as 
to  educational  efficiency  may  sometimes  be  drawn  from 
figures  of  this  sort.  A  glance  at  the  appended  table,  which 
gives,  as  nearly  as  they  can  be  readily  computed,  the  an- 
nual appropriations  per  enrolled  pupil  for  various  branohn 

*  The  best  reoent  diMniaion  of  tiite  matter  ii  H.  UpdegnTs  iS^  ¥ 
Ou  Bxpefuet  ef  City  School  8y$tomi  (United  States  Bureau  of  EdnaatlM. 
BvUetin,  1912,  No.  5.  96  pp.). 


&: 


SCHOOL  ADMINISTIUTION 

of  school  expenditure  in  ten  Amerieui  dtiee,  will  indicate 
how  great  are  the  variationa.* 

The  salaries  and  pennons  of  teachers  constitute  by  far 
the  hwgest  Item  in  eveiy  dty  school  budget.  Salaries 
alone  take  80  per  cent  or  more  of  the  entin  annual  school 
income,  and  yet,  accept  in  a  comparatively  few  large  dties, 
public-school  teachers  are  notoriously  underpaid.  An  in- 
vestigation of  this  matter,  under  the  auspices  of  the  National 
Mucution  AsBocuition  some  ten  years  ago,  showed  the  aver- 
a^  eaimngs  of  all  the  male  teachers  in  dty  sdiools  to  be  a 
Utile  more  «ian  twdve  hundred  doUars  per  year,  or  about 
twenty-five  doUars  a  week,  those  of  the  female  Ujachers  bdng 
muchless."  This  rate  of  remuneration,  moreover,  is  for  SSii 
Jf^^sml"-  "•  ""**"  *^  Vpi.tnir.  na«»e  (p.  88). 


Chioago 
St.  Loiik    . 
Bdtiinora  . 
Oetrdt      . 
Buffalo      .    , 
San  Frandaoo 
Newark     .    , 
Washington    . 
Los  Angdea    . 
MinneapoUa   . 


Male  teaehen 
Femidei 


HiaaScaooM 


tl808 
908 


QaiMaui 


tll61 
660 


See  aiao  V.  A.  Cotton,  "Taaehen*  Salariaa."  in  P'nwv.A-...  ^  4i.   vt 
w»na»  fiooMUoii  AaMoiatkni,  1906,  pp.  132-141.    Beoent  data  on  the  aal- 


Teaohan' 

pODiiOM. 


304     PRINCIPLI8  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINI8TR4TI0M 

only;  in  rural  dutricts  it  would  be  a  great  deal  lower. 
Since  then,  however,  the  remuneration  of  publio-aohool 
teacher*  baa  been  liaing  somewhat  in  oitiea  throu|Mt  the 
eountry,  but  not  at  any  rapid  rate;  and  it  ia  rtill  too  low 
to  enable  the  teaching  profemon  to  develop  as  it  ott|^. 
to  do.  It  is  hi^  enough,  to  be  sure,  to  draw  plenty  oC 
men  and  women  into  the  teaching  ranks,  but  it  fails  to 
hold  the  best  among  those  who  come,  espedally  the  best 
of  the  male  teachers.  In  some  eities  —  as  New  York,  for 
example  — a  minimum  salary  schedule  is  provided  by 
statute;  but  the  fact  that  this  schedule  ordinarily  fixes  a 
different  minimum  for  male  and  female  teachers  has  kd 
to  b  good  deal  of  controvMity  in  New  York  City  and  ebs* 

Most  of  the  larger  cities  of  this  country  maintain  some 

system  of  teachers'  pensions.    Usually  these  are  on  a  eoft* 

tributory  basis;  that  is  to  say,  the  teacher  is  required  to 

pay  into  the  pension  fund  a  cerUdn  small  percentage  of 

every  month's  salary,   and  thia  accumulation  is  suppte- 

mented  by  grants  from  state  funds  or  from  munidpil 

revenues.    In  New  York  Qty  the  contribution  asked  of 

the  teachers  is  one  per  cent  of  their  salaries  up  to  a  fixed 

Tnaximiitn     The  pousion  begins  either  after  thirty  yean 

of  service  or  at  sixty-five  year  j  of  age.    It  usually  amounts 

to  one  half  the  annual  salary  which  the  teacher  was  rwth 

ing  at  retirement ;  but  no  teacher  receives  an  annuity  of 

more  than  $1500,  or  less  than  1600  except  when  the  term 

of  service  has  been  shorter  than  thirty  years.*    Althou^  » 

comprehensive  and  liberal  poudon  scheme  involves  larp 

annual  contributions  from  the  tax  levy,  it  is  sure  to  prow 

wise  economy  in  the  long  run. 

aries  of  public  Mhmd  Umahtn  may  alw  be  found  in  Tht  ranjj*!*  ««MJ* 
of  Teaching  (United  Stotea  Bureau  of  Eduoation,  BiMOin,  1914,  « »■  Wj 
«  Low*  of  New  York,  1909,  ch.  505,  amending  oh.  4*58  of  the  laws  of  im 
A  complete  digert  of  the  pension  pnnririmu  in  t^,'^®"  ■*^"' 
eities  is  given  in  Report  cf  the  CommiUUe  on  Pmrnom  (MaMaohuwtto  mm 
Document,  No.  2450,  Marah,  1914). 


•OBOOL  ADMINIVnUTION 


mew  DniAMM  UKm  ort  ■cbooui 

like  ev«y  other  munioipal  dqMutment,  and  in  greater 

degree  periiape  than  moet  of  them,  the  Mhod  autiioritiea    -  

have  many  problems  of  a  itrietly  piofeadonal  oharaeter,  i^fJl 
rdatmg  to  auoh  matters  as  the  methods  of  promoting  '^"*""' 
pupils  from  grade  to  grade,  the  maehineiy  of  school  di»> 
cipline,  the  scope  of  the  curriculum,  and  simikr  questions. 
As  these  are  problons  of  educational  science  outside  of  the 
general  field  of  munioipal  administration,  they  can  haidly 
be  discussed  here.  On  the  other  hand,  there  are  various 
questions  which,  although  they  may  come  for  definite 
decision  within  the  purview  of  the  school  board,  are  in  a 
broad  sense  problems  of  community  poUey.  Such  are 
matters  connected  with  the  medical  infection  of  schools, 
the  establishment  of  evening,  industrial,  and  continuation 
schoob,  as  well  as  schools  for  the  handicapped  or  the  de- 
fective, the  question  of  vocational  guidance,  and  so  forth. 
In  the  same  category  are  various  problems  concerning  the 
management  of  playgrounds  and  the  use  of  the  school 
plant  as  a  social  centre  or  for  other  than  strictiy  educational 
purposes. 

lue  careful  examination  of  school  children  for  physicid 
ailments  and  minor  deformities  is  a  social  undertofang  M«Jtaai». 
which  has  made  marked  progress  in  recent  years,    ita  SS£k. 
object  is  to  safeguard  the  community  against  epidemics, 
to  furnish  a  basis  for  the  better  care  of  child-health,  and 
to  eliminate  the  wastage  that  results  from  attempts  to 
instruct  the  physically  unfit  in  the  ordinary  way.    Much 
of  what  formeriy  passed  for  inattention,  perverseness,  or 
stupidity  in  the  schoolroom  has  long  since  been  shown 
to  be  the  outcome  of  some  physical  deficiency  or  minor 
aihnent.    The   whole  sjrstem   is   based   upon  a   sensible 
recognition  of  the  close  relation  which  must  exist  between 
the  mental  and  the  physical  condition  of  every  pupil. 
Nearly  half  the  cities  of  the  United  States  now  provide 


liiB 


HmmimW 

■■MMlMaf 


1.  Erwias 


896     PRINCIPLM  OV  MUNICIPAL  ADMINIITIUTION 

wmw  teheme  of  r«gul«r  medieia  taupeetion  in  their  ■dwoli, 
uraaUy  by  Mhool  phyrieiuif.  Th«M  phyrieiuis  auy  U 
under  the  direction  of  the  tchool  board,  but  more  oftM 
they  u«  eonneeted  with  the  dt/i  hedth  department.* 

The  routine  work  of  edueating  the  nomud  ehild  of  ichool 
age  remains  the  chief  function  of  the  dtji'i  school  depart* 
ment.  It  is  to  this  work  that  most  of  the  annual  school 
expenditure  is  devoted.  But  then  remain  the  obrima 
facts  that  not  aU  who  need  some  elementaiy  eduMti«m  an 
children,  and  that  not  all  children  need  the  same  sent  of 
schooling.  It  is  for  the  illiterate  or  the  nearly  illitetate 
adult,  or  at  any  rate  for  the  person  who  has  passed  the 
ordinaiy  school  age,  that  the  evening  school  or  the  pari* 
time  school  was  first  esUblished  at  public  cost.  With 
adult  populations  that  aie  often  5  to  10  per  cent  illitenl^ 
and  to  a  far  larger  proportion  nearly  illiterate,  the  need 
of  these  schools  in  large  dties  is  apparent.  QradttaQy, 
however,  the  evening  school  has  advanced  its  work  untS 
it  is  able  to  cany  its  patrons  far  beyond  the  initial  stsfai 
in  education.  Prom  any  point  of  view  the  woric  of  these 
schools  is  well  worth  whatever  it  may  cost. 

Again,  it  must  be  remembered  that  nil  children  of  sdiool 
age  are  not  adapted  by  nature  to  pass  readily  throng 
fortiM  the  same  educational  processes.  Time  was  when  all  ohfl- 
tafdyortiM  djen  were  euporfidrJly  accouuted  alike  and  were  shoved 
*'*^^  along  the  same  educational  gangway;  but,  the  hypothem 
being  unsound,  the  results  w«re  often  far  from  satisfactoiy. 
Nowadays  we  start  with  the  knowledge  that,  while  most 
children  are  normal  in  both  body  and  mind,  some  are  de- 
fective in  one  or  both.    Henee  comes  the  policy  of  piddag 


3.  SpMtot 


«  See  thfl  pamphlet  iMued  by  ti»  RvmA  tef«  FMiad»tl«.  --.^-,.. 
of  CWM  HygimM.  What  Afimiean  CiH-  anddmtfor  Ou  BM^vBm* 
CkOdrm  (New  Yorit,  1OT2).  The  beet4mo«ii  worta  on  thte  ""VN*  ■(* 
by  L.  H.  Oolick  uid  L.  P.  Ayre^  MmNcoI  /lupwtion  ef  SehoeU  CM*. 
New  York.  1913):  F.  W.  «nd  J.  D.  BwkM,  Htaltk  '^*^J^'^^ 
York,  1913) :  F.  B.  Dreeetar.  Sehoi*  H^wim  (New  York.  1913)j  »fta W-.?^ 
Corn^.  HeaUk  and  MtHeci  ImpteHmt  ef  Sefcoel  CkOdnm  (^iBaMm< 
1912). 


.J6 


KBOOL  ADIIDIBniATIOK  M 

neb  bf^  (or  the  bmat  of  u  unlortuiuto  («r  ud.^ 

JZHSf .  "^  "•  •^  ■'^  "^^'^ 

upon  th.  «*ool  d.p«n«t  |„,  „  fcauJ^^"^ 
•11  lufo  oommunitiw  pnUie  oiitaioii  iMtoSlhittiri-ir 

!.« j.«d«Mo  pupa,  rf  higSLa^  SS^i^ 

Tta  danuHl  la,  .^iihod  in  the  «tia>lidus«it  of  ^^ 

«lay  schools,  evening  schoola  iJIft.^.^!^  '  '^'^T**' 
»tin«  —1.  1  "»»***«  wjnoois,  put-time  Mhoob,  or  continu- 
ation mAwU^  »,«  being  eveiywheie  ertahHAed  in  rew^ 
to  the  pubHo  cUmo,  for  .  eloeer  wUtion  bet^l^^ 

No.  31).  n^»^  *•**  ""*■  **  lAieMloB.  Bulblin,  J9l| 

?•  i*'*?nSfaJffi  ttiL''^^  ^SSf^<"^«*^  »«">5  A. 


fervoa*. 


rfcf-:4*~. 


308     PRINCIPLBS  OF  MX7NICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


Vootioiial 
guitUnoe. 


of  the  school  and  the  economic  life  of  the  community.  It 
must  be  remembered  that  undertakings  of  this  sort  are 
very  expensive,  reqmring  special  buildings,  costly  equip- 
ment) and  teachers  who  have  had  specialized  training. 
Industrial  or  commercial  education  costs  per  pupil  at  least 
twice  or  three  times  as  much  as  ordinary  schooling ;  hence 
the  city  that  undertakes  to  provide  vocational  training  for 
all  who  seek  it  is  sure  to  encounter  a  steady  and  enormous 
growth  in  its  school  budget.^  Vocational  opportunities 
will  also  encourage  a  larger  percentage  of  pupils  to  enter 
and  remain  in  the  high  schools.  The  question  is  not,  there- 
fore, one  of  pedagogy  alone ;  it  is  equally  one  of  munidpid 
finance.  It  has  been  estimated  that  the  total  outlay  fur 
public  education  in  the  United  States  has  doubled  within 
the  past  decade.  A  considerable  part  of  this  astounding 
increase,  which  is  far  greater  than  that  of  any  otha 
municipal  department,  is  due  to  the  more  costly  methods 
and  machinery  of  education  that  have  been  coming  into 
use ;  and  there  is  every  indication  that  we  must  face  ex- 
penditures on  an  even  larger  scale  wherever  the  vocation- 
alizing  of  the  schools  goes  forward. 

A  somewhat  different  but  closely  related  subject  is  that 
of  vocational  guidance  in  the  ordinary  schools,  —  in  other 
words,  the  providing  of  such  facilities  as  will  enable  the 
pupil,  when  he  leaves  the  elementary  or  secondary  school, 
to  choose  the  vocation  or  trade  best  suited  to  his  individual 
aptitude.  In  every  large  city  thousands  of  pupib  finish 
their  school  careers  each  year  and  are  absorbed  by  the 
mercantile,  industrial,  and  other  trades.  This  transition 
from  school  to  work  has  not  hitherto  been  under  any  sys- 
tematic guidance.  On  leaving  school  the  average  pu}»l 
chooses  his  employment  at  random :  the  first  job  that  comes 
to  hand  is  the  one  he  takes,  even  though  it  may  lead  nowhere. 

>  In  Botton  the  annwd  cost  per  pufrfl,  baaed  on  avenge  attMukaMi  h 
roughly  aa  follows :  Elementary  Sehools,  926 ;  Btcoadary  Behodt  (ffi|^ 
and  Latin),  $85;  Indostnal  School  for  B^rs,  S202 ;  Evening  Hi^  S^s^ 
tl9;  Evening  Industrial  Sohooli,  $43. 


SCHOOL  ADMINISTRATION 


399 


have  been  blamed  ^,)oT:^,^  hte^'i^L^'C 
in  part  responrible.  The  migration  from  .^wl  ♦  ^ 
ought  not  to  be  left  ungui^  evl  H  !^^  i°  ''"^ 
actually  p«>vide  vocatio^Fti'ucX  it  ^o^i  "^T.  °°* 
a.ord  some  facilities  for  stud^  the  ^^I^^  **  ^«* 
pupils  aad  f.,r  ateering  each  toTdel^b^,.!?  l  "^  °^  ?* 
important  oiatter  of  a  We  cir^r^'!*!  '^^^  "^  **»* 
..only  caUod  vocational  ^U^may^  ii^'^'eT" 
to  a  special  school  officer  or  to  one  of  the  r^T^achl«' 
m  any  case,  it  is  a  wort  ♦i.-*  •       "'8«iar  teacnera; 

M^u  With  ™i..bir;:s«Lr^^s?T  rs:°^- 

comparatively  recent  v«*n.  tl,-  -v  »         .  "     *^°*^  •«»»»• 

terms  of  annual  Dotenfiaii>v  i.—  u  "w'  "*  mem  m 

prun^tiirtesnsrr^^^    ^r ' 

^o^ms  query  the  school  authorities  in  m«iy  dties  h*ve 

Ward.  r*e  S^'cN^ork.X'ttK^^    ■*» "^ 


400     PRINCIPLES  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


Three  tjrpes 
of  wider  uae. 


1.  For  edu- 

eational 

purpoies. 


responded  by  pennitting  and  even  encouraging  the  use  of 
school  property  during  the  late  afternoons  and  evenings  for 
various  purposes  of  a  social  or  commimity  nature.* 

In  the  first  place,  the  schoolhotise  is  being  opened  without 
hesitation  for  any  public  object  that  is  educational  in 
its  main  motive.  The  evening  and  vacation  schools  are 
thus  provided  for  without  any  question;  and  so  are  the 
free  lectures  and  recitals  which  are  either  given  by  the 
school  or  furnished  by  the  recreation  department  of  tiie 
city  out  of  public  funds.  The  most  extensive  programme 
of  this  sort  now  carried  on  by  any  American  city  is  that 
undertaken  by  the  board  of  education  in  New  York,  which 
provides  each  year  several  hundred  evening  lectures,  in 
various  languages,  to  be  given  for  the  most  part  in  school 
halls.  Many  other  American  cities  make  similar  provision 
on  a  smaller  scale.  To  the  use  of  school  buildings  for 
such  purposes  no  serious  objection  has  come  from  any 
quarter,  and  the  same  may  be  said  of  their  use  durii^ 
evening  hours  by  debating  clubs  or  by  any  neighborhood 
organizations  with  aims  of  a  distinctly  educational  nature. 

In  the  second  place,  there  is  a  growing  tendency  to  open 
|>-^«»  pub-  school  halls  for  public  meetings  of  all  kinds.  In  many 
cities  th^  are  used  for  the  regular  meetings  of  local  im- 
provement leagues  and  parents'  associations,  and  in  some 
places  they  have  been  thrown  open  for  political  ralliei, 
all  parties  being  allowed  to  have  them  on  equal  terms. 
As  a  rule  a  small  fee  is  charged,  but  only  to  cover  the  eztn 
cost  of  light  and  janitor  service.  There  is  a  great  deal  to 
be  said  for  the  policy  of  using  the  school  plant  in  this  mio- 
ner  so  long  as  it  does  not  in  any  way  interfere  with  tiie 
regular  branches  of  strictly  educational  work.  In  actual 
practice  the  interference  has  proved  to  be  negligible. 

Finally,  there  is  a  movement  to  make  the  sohoul  buiki- 


licmeet- 
infli. 


'  TIm  two  best  K«nenl  diieuadtmi  ot  this  matter  ue  C.  A.  Vtsrft 
Wider  Vt  oj  ihe  School  Plant  (New  York,  1911),  »Dd  E.  J.  Waid'i  /Sntf 
Cenhr  (New  York,  1913).    The  Utter  ocmtaini  m  good  UUiocn]^. 


SCHOOL  ADMINISTRATION 


401 


rec- 


mg  a  social  centre  for  the  neighborhood  in  which  it  is  located    3.  Fc 
ITiis  means  the  opening  of  schoolrooms,  assembly  haUs   ^"^ 
and  gymnasiums  in  evening  hours  for  ibjects  that  are  ^™ 
^LZ     T  ''°*  "'^'"^^  *^  ^'  "^y  educational  in 
LT^^orth     tT'"'  *^*«'''^««*«'  neighborhood  dances, 
and  so  forth     The  argument  commonly  advanced  in  favo^ 
of  this  practice  is  that  such  amusements  serve  to  kZ 
mng  people  off  the  streets  and  thereby  to  impreve^e 
moral  tone  of  the  neighborhood.    The  way  to  IZh  out 
the  cheap  dance-haU,  we  are  told,  is  to  provideTroper 
places  for  dancing  in  the  school  buildings  with  adeqX 
^ipervision.    But   the   fact    that   thisTpervision To'te 

of  Xr^;     1 1°*°'  °^  p*^«  °»°"«y  ^or  the  support 

^cSt^n'  f  T"'^''^  ^^^"'^  *^«  maintenance  of  S 
^creation  acihti^.  As  yet  only  a  ver^  smaU  fraction 
of  the  total  school  tax  is  u-ed  for  this  puipose,  but  with 

r^r^''^  °"  *'^  "'^''''  centre-lS^^a'the  qT^ 
tion  will  become  an  important  one 

o,l71n*^*  """^  ^^"^  '^^*^  °^  ^''hoo^  administration 
Item  o^nl  *  """"^f  *^°  *^"*  Playgreunds  and  Z  m-y- 

ade  this  matter  has  burst  upon  us  with  great  impetus 

hTS   r',^  r'°"l  '^"^^^^^^^  »  new'^ncepTon  5 

ird    C^e?  tr  f  ^^l-    ^^  oW-fashioned  school 

yart,   cramped,   lU-kept,   without  equipment,   and   alto- 

^her  useless  as  an  instrument  oflharacte^buill^ 

for  games    divided  into  sections  for  children  of  differSt 

supervised  by  paid  instructow.    The  proper  plac?  fora 
P^ground  is  beside  the  schoolhousef  ^Jm  Ur^: 

SttTeit^^/'*^'^r*'""^P^'^*-    It-houldpro- 

t^r  JL    ,       ^*^  ■**"*"  ^«*  °f  »P»«e  ^or  each  pupU  in 

he  school       that  is,  it  should  „«ely  be  smaUerTar^^ 

than  a  whole  city  block.    Proper  plining,  togethe^  Z 


WhenwOl 
the  money 
come  fromT 


402     PRINCIPLES  OF  MT7NICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

an  intelligent  choice  and  location  of  equipment,  will  hdp 
to  make  a  moderate  tract  of  land  go  a  long  way.  But  the 
chief  problems  of  playground  administration  are  not  those 
of  area  or  equipment ;  they  relate  rather  to  what  may  be 
termed  the  pedagogy  of  the  playgroimd,  —  in  other  words, 
to  the  efficient  organization  of  play  and  the  guidance  of 
child  recreation  into  those  channels  which  experience  ahowi 
to  be  the  most  profitable.^ 

We  are  spending  vast  sums  on  our  public  schools  in  thu 
coimtry,  but  we  must  prepare  to  spend  a  great  deal  more. 
The  increase  in  cost  is  not  to  be  measured  by  mere  increase 
of  population  in  years  to  come ;  it  will  far  outrun  any  such 
ratio  of  growth.  The  public  school  during  several  gener»- 
tions  served  as  the  mere  nursery  of  the  neighborhood; 
but  it  is  nowadays  being  called  upon  to  perform  a  broader 
function  than  that.  A  greater  number  of  new  and  costly 
demands  are  being  made  upon  the  school  department  than 
upon  any  other  branch  of  city  administration.  Vocational 
education,  continuation  classes,  evening  and  vacation  woric 
for  adults,  special  instruction  for  the  handicapped,  medical 
and  dental  inspection  of  children,  free  text-books,  soeial 
centre  work  and  neighborhood  dances,  playgrounds  and  the 
supervision  of  play,  —  all  these  new  enterprises  of  the  last 
two  decades  have  already  forced  our  school  boards  to 
greatly  enlarged  expenditures.  And  yet  the  widening 
movement  is  just  getting  well  under  way.  To  say  that  all 
this  opens  a  vista  of  limitless  possibilities  for  spending 
money  is  not  to  imply  that  any  phase  of  the  movonoit 
should  be  halted.  It  does,  however,  prompt  the  Ba^/aAioa 
that  the  commimities  which  are  embarking  on  programmes  of 
socialized  education  should  first  figure  out  where  the  mon^ 
is  to  come  from. 

*  For  a  brief  diMnusion  of  the  location,  equipment,  and  managMMBt 
of  idaygroundt,  see  Henry  8.  Cnrtis,  The  RtorganiMtd  Sekotd  PUtgtnmi 
(United  States  Bnrean  <tf  Edoeatiim,  BuS^'n,  1912,  No.  16} ;  abo,  trntme 
detailed  information,  E.  B.  Mero's  American  Playground*  (^  ed.,  Nt* 
Tork,  1909),  and  JoMph  Lee's  Play  in  Bdveation  Qf.  T.,  1915). 


% 


CHAPTER  X 

MUinciPAL  mrANCB 

The  chief  problem  of  municipal  administration  in  aU 
countn^  18  that  of  making  both  ends  meet  at  the  close  of  imporuno. 
the  fiscal  year.    The  financial  needs  of  a  modem  community  l?'  "'^ 
seem  to  increase  much  more  rapidly  than  its  population  or 
Its  wealth.    Even  the  same  administrative  services  cost 
more  and  more  every  year.    Not  only  that,  but  each  year 
bnngs  a  demand  that  the  city  shaU  enlarge  its  sphere  of 
action  for  the  benefit  of  its  citizens.    Things  which  were 
fonneriy  left  to  private  enteiprise  are  constantly  being  so- 
ciah.^.    The  whole  pressure  is  in  the  direction  of  greater 
expenditure.    This  steady  increase  in  the  per  capita  require- 
ments of  aties,  both  large  and  smaU,  presents  one7f  our 
most  senous  municipal  problems;  for,  if  more  money  is  to 
be  spent,  either  more  must  be  raised  or  more  must  be  boi- 
rowed  each  year  than  in  the  year  preceding.    New  York 
uty  IS  obl^  to  raise  eveiy  year  about  as  much  money  Th.  «pMiy 
as  aJl  the  Southern  and  Western  ttetes  of  the  Union  put  fe^ 
together;  its  annual  budget  is  larger  in  amount  than  tLt  «^' 
of  Denmark,  Norway,  Sweden.  Holland,  or  Greece;  it  has 
to  coUect  more  money  each  year  for  purely  municipal  puiw 
poses  than  London,  Paris,  and  Berlin  combined.    Reduced 
to  a  per  capita  basis,  the  city's  yearly  financial  require, 
meats  are  of  startling  proportions.    Boston,  with  a  popu- 
lation of  less  than  726,000,  lequiies  an  annual  income  of 
over  $34,000,000,  or  about  $47  per  capita.    Acooniing  to 

40B 


Wbobeftn 
thekNuir 


What 
municipal 
finance 
includes. 


404     PRINCIPLES  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMIMI8TIUTI0N 

the  usual  way  of  reckoning  such  thinp,  this  means  an  ave^ 
age  burden  of  $235  per  family  each  year,  or,  roughly,  <4.80 
per  week.  In  most  other  American  cities,  however,  the  pa 
capita  levy  is  less  than  in  Boston. 

To  say  that  this  burden  falls  mainly  upop  the  well-to-do 
and  very  little  of  it  on  the  wage-earner  is  to  state  an  eco- 
nomic absurdity.  It  distributes  itself  through  every  item 
of  family  expenditure.  It  appears  in  the  rent  bill  and  in 
the  price  of  everything  that  the  poor  as  well  as  the  rich  must 
buy.  The  landlord  and  the  groceryman  are  municipal 
agents  for  the  collection  of  taxes  even  if  neither  they  nor 
their  tenants  and  customers  realize  the  fact.  The  man 
who  believes  that  he  can  live  in  any  American  commimity 
without  contributing  to  its  revenue  b  nursing  a  shallow 
delusion.  He  pays  his  share  whether  he  knows  it  or  not. 
The  most  important  item  in  the  high-cost-of-living  is  the 
high-cost-of-govemment.  If  the  average  citizen  could 
only  be  brought  to  understand  this  simple  proposition,  he 
would  surely  take  a  greater  and  more  personal  interest  in 
the  problems  of  city  finance. 

The  field  of  municipal  finance  includes  three  chief  topics, 
revenue,  expenditure,  and  debt.  It  involves  a  study  of 
local  assessment  and  taxation,  both  real  and  personal,  of 
special  assessments,  of  the  financial  relations  between  the 
city  and  the  public-service  corporations,  of  the  licensing 
power  as  a  source  of  revenue,  and  of  many  less  important 
but  closely  related  matters.  Under  the  general  head  of  ex- 
penditure it  includes  such  things  as  budgets  and  budget- 
making  methods,  audits,  uniform  accounting,  and  other 
checks  on  extravagance  or  wastefulness.  Finally,  it  com- 
prises such  matters  as  municipal  borrowing  for  long  or 
short  tertk-jE  statutory  or  constitutional  debt  limits,  the 
relative  mei  '  of  the  sinking-fund  and  serial-bond  sye- 
tems,  and  the  whole  question  of  public-debt  amortization. 
All  these  things  put  together  make  up  one  of  the  mort 
important  branches  of  city  administration. 


MUNICIPAL  FINANCE 


405 


1.  Municipal  Revenue 
The  Amwican  city  draws  its  annual  revenue  from  many 
Bouijces,  but  the  larger  part  of  it  comes  from  the  procee<i  a— 
of  the  general  property  tax.    This  amiual  tax  on  the  a».  rZl- 
»^  value  of  real  and  personal  pn,perty  yields  from  KST 
53  to  64  per  cent  of  aU  municipal  revenue  in  American 

f  ^K-n  °T„*^^,  ^"""^^  population,  or  more  than  a 

hdf -bilhon  doUars  altogether.    This  huge  levy  is  made  up  n 

urban  real  estate  which  is  assessed  at  an  approximate  total 

of  twenty-five  bilhons,  and  upon  personal  property  assessed 

at  a  httle  more  than  four  billions.    With  the  exception  of 

he  very  lai^est  cities,  the  relative  dependence  placed  upon 

the  genena  property  tax  as  a  source  of  income  does  not 

vaiy  greatiy  among  groups  of  cities  throughout  the  United 

States,  although  considerable  variation  does  appear  among 

individual  mties.'    Direct  taxation  is  to^ay,  as  it  always 

has  been,  the  chief  prop  of  American  municipal  finanw. 

Special  assessments  also  bring  in  a  good  deal  from  time  to 

time  in  those  cities  which  make  a  practice  of  financing  the 

cost  of  pubh.  unprovements  by  levying  upon  privateprop- 

erty  m  this  way.    In  some  states  a  local  tax  on  all  in- 

TcL^t       ^'  ?«''¥«!*  »>y  «»  United  State.  Bnw^  oTtte  cSSL' 
.hows  the  general  ymmUom.    The  flgum  wfor  the^L  19W-^ 


CI.AWOV  Cmw 


TotM.  Bamnia 


I.  Cities  of  over  £00.000     . 

11.  Cities  of  from  300,000  to 

600.000 

III.  Cities  of  ttom  100.000  to 
„       300.000 

IV.  Cities  of  fh>m  fi0,000  to 

100.000 

V.  Cities  of  tnm  aoXXW  to 
50.000       

Totia 


«442/n2,0O» 

113378,023 

157.062308 

87.514.220 

66.219.«fi0 


J^awmmvm  wmom    ■ 


1866.277.110 


t286,6a,i44 
66.465.786 
85,lJa,429 
«».7a8,205 
87329 J80 


8525,779.153 


64% 
58 
53 
56 

57 


406     PRINCIPL  S  or  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


Munidpal 

revenue* 

abtoad. 


comes  that  exceed  a  certain  amount  is  permitted,  and  dtiai 
derive  something  from  this  source.  Poll  taxes  are  assessed 
in  some  cities,  but  they  rarely  yield  a  very  large  amount. 
Pajrments  to  the  municipality  by  public-service  corporations 
form  another  important  and  steadily  growing  factor  in  the 
sum  total  of  civic  income.  Some  sta  ^,  again,  especially  in 
the  South,  allow  their  municipalities  to  impose  busireaa 
taxes ;  and  very  often,  particiilarly  in  the  Western  states, 
the  local  authorities  receive  annual  state  subventions  for  tiie 
support  of  public  schools  or  for  other  special  purposes. 
American  mimicipal  revenue  comes  from  a  dozen  or  more 
sources,  some  of  them  yielding  much  and  others  little,  some 
general  throughout  the  coimtry,  others  in  vogue  in  a  few 
cities  only.* 

It  is  interesting  to  compare  this  situation  with  that  which 
exists  in  the  cities  of  Germany  and  England,  where  the 
subject  of  civic  income  has  received  far  more  attention  in 
recent  years  than  it  has  had  in  this  country.  The  cities 
of  the  German  Empire,  taken  as  a  whole,  derive  about  one 
third  of  their  gross  annual  revenue  from  direct  taxation, 
that  is  to  say,  from  taxes  on  real  estate,  trades,  and  incomes. 
The  income  tax  is  by  all  means  the  most  productive  of 
these  three,  as  it  yields  more  than  half  the  entire  sum 
obtained  through  channels  of  direct  taxation.  About  (me 
quarter  of  the  disposable  municipal  revenue  is  obtained  frcun 
tiie  gross  profits  of  communal  enterprises, — for  example,  from 
mimicipal  ligV»ting  plants,  abattoirs,  and  so  on ;  and  about 
20  per  cent  cot  los  in  subventions  from  the  central  govern- 
ment for  police,  educational,  and  other  administrative 
purposes.  In  the  English  boroughs  a  little  less  than  half 
the  annual  municipal  income  is  raised  by  the  levy  of  "rate%" 
or  direct  local  taxes,  about  one  quarter  from  the  eaxtir 

>  The  oomprehensive  bulletin  on  Taxation  and  Revenue  Sytltmi  V 
State  and  Local  Goeemment,  imifid  by  the  United  States  BmeMi  at  (k> 
Census  in  1914,  Kivee  »  digest  of  oonstitutioniil  mnd  statutory  j/mvUttu 
rdating  to  loml  taxation  througfaout  the  Union  and  is  invalnahifl  to  il» 
dents  of  tids  snhjaot. 


MmnOIPAL  FIKANCB 


407 


mgB  Of  municipal  enteipri«»,  and  slightly  more  than  one 
«xth  from  robventiona  given  by  the  central  exchequer. 
In  nother  of  these  countries,  therefore,  is  direct  tazatiooi  so 
unportant  a  factor  in  municipal  finance  as  it  continues  to  be 
m  the  cities  of  the  United  States.*  On  the  other  hand,  the 
state  subventions  and  the  gross  proceeds  from  munidpal 
enterprises  are  of  much  larger  proportions  in  Europe  thui 
m  this  coimtry.  In  American  cities  as  a  whole  probably 
not  more  than  12  per  cent  of  the  entire  revenue  comes  from 
tbese  two  sources  put  together. 

These  differences  spring  chiefly  from  two  considerations 
Which  have  made  themselves  more  strongly  felt  here  than 
abroad.    One  is  our  historic  notion  concerning  the  proper 
division  of  taxing  authority,  -  that  is  to  say,  our  ^neS 
impresaon  that  the  national  and  state  governments  should 
get  theur  revenues  chiefly  from  indirect  taxes,  leav:  g  the 
field  of  direct  taxation  to  be  freely  exploited  by  the  mmuo-  t.  ty, 
ipahties.    This  idea,  which  is  now  losing  its  hold  by  wason  iSffiT 
of  the  mvasions  made  by  both  federal  and  state  govern-  -*^ 
ments  mto  the  domain  of  direct  taxation,  had  a  profound  SS?* 

influence  upon  tiie  whole  course  of  pubKc  finance,  more  

particukrly  m  New  England,  during  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tuiy.  The  sphere  of  direct  taxation  being  largely  re- 
served  to  the  munidpaUties,  they  were  experted  to  ex- 
ploit It  fuUy  and  not  to  caU  upon  the  state  governments 
for  subventaons.  The  general  notion  seemed  to  be  that 
each  branch  of  American  government,  national,  state, 
and  mumcipal,  should  have  its  own  distinct  soiirces  ^ 
revenue,  that  no  one  of  them  should  tiendi  on  the  taximr 
area  of  another,  or  yet,  on  the  other  hand,  be  expected 
'  A  good  genenl  dimiHion  of  Ocmuun  monioina  ravenoM  <■  in  w  n 
d«.  xm-rviH.    On  moiiidiMl  ravoniM  in  Et^^^nk  w£i.»      i 

KwrfnuHin'.  Die  ir*m««««ft|,«n^^^7^J2riSb6).  ^^ 


406     PRINdP^TO  OP  lilTNIOIPAL  ADMIKiaTRATION 


to  contribute  to  the  income  of  the  others.  In  Europctt 
countries  there  hM  been  no  such  doctrine;  on  the  oo»> 
traiy,  it  has  beoi  a  very  common  practice  for  the  state 
and  the  municipality  to  tax  the  same  thing  in  the  same 
way,  the  one  levying  a  tax.  and  the  other  a  surtax  upon  it 
Throughout  the  United  States  to-day,  however,  the  practice 
of  putting  both  state  and  local  taxes  on  the  same  thing 
is  becoming  more  common,  although  it  does  not  usually 
take  the  European  form  of  tax  and  surtax. 
The  other  factor  that  has  impelled  the  American  city  to 
»-^»g^  put  its  chief  reliance  upon  direct  taxation  is  the  general 
oamanid-  attitude  of  the  courts  in  the  matter  of  profits  from  public 
property.  In  this  country,  as  President  Goodnow  has 
very  properly  pointed  out,  "the  courts  have  very  gen«w 
ally  refused  to  recognise  the  cities  as  possessing  any  prop- 
erty rights  in  their  streets,  and  the  legislatures  of  the  states 
have  commonly  wasted  this  property  by  improvident 
grants  of  it,  sometimes  in  perpetmty,  to  private  persons  and 
companies."  *  Throughout  the  greater  part  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  the  legislatures  and  the  courts  neitho*  enoou^ 
aged  the  cities  to  operate  public  utilities  for  their  own  profit, 
nor  permitted  them  to  exact  a  fair  share  of  the  profits  made 
by  enfranchised  companies  throu^  their  exclusive  rights  to 
use  public  property.  Within  the  last  twenty-five  yean, 
however,  this  situation  has  been  changing,  llie  policy  of 
mimicipal  ownership  and  operation  has  made  moderate 
headway,  while  the  right  of  the  city  to  get  a  substantial 
revenue  from  profit-making  public  utilities  (whether  by 
taxing  franchises,  or  by  exacting  compensation  for  franchises, 
or  by  both  methods)  is  now  becoming  generally  recognised. 

OUB  CHIEF  SOUBCB  OF  CnT  RBVJBNUB 

The  general  property  tax,  which  furnishes  the  laiftt 
part  of  the  annual  revenue  in  moat  American  dties,  ai 
>  F.  J.  Ooodnow.  Municipal  Gamnmmtt  (Now  York,  1909).  p.  808. 


MUNICIPAL  flNANCI 


400 


*  *r^.*TP  *?•**"•*  wtegories  of  property,  nmuiy.  on  n^m 

«.!  ertaf  (land.  «d  bufldinp)  ^id^^lSkti^y   {Si 

Penjonml  property  include,,  on  the  one  himT^Lw,  S^  ^^ 

«.ch  a.  meroh«di»,  fumituro,  •utomobUe;,  imdl^  fa^ 

and,  on  the  other  h«id,  inUmgibU,  m>oh  «.  rtocks,  bond.! 

mortgage.,  bank  deporit.,  and  other  evidence,  of  proper^ 

The*  W.«,,  T^  or  penonal,  are  levied  on  the  a«»m2d 

value  ofthe  property  a.  detennined  by  a  formal  --rrnn 

ment.    TTie  rate  of  taxation  i.  ibwd  at  »  many  mill,  per 

dolhu-  or  «,  many  doUai.  per  thouwnd  of  aMCMcJ  valu^ 

tion,  and  the  authority  to  decide  what  the  rate  diaO  be 

«  alway.  vert«d  in  the  municipal  legidaturo,  that  i.,  in 

ihe  dty  councU,  or,  under  the  commi«ion  fori  of  goviri^ 

ment,  m  the  commi«on.    In  many  rtate.  the  legiriaturo 

has  fixed  a  maamum  tax  rate  by  general  Uw  forXdtie^ 

or  by  special  law  for  a  particular  munidpaKty.*    Thi.  1ms 

been  done  with  the  idea  of  checking  extraviance  in  e^ 

penditure.  by  rertricting  the  dty'.  available  income;  but 

the  pohcy  ha.  not  proved  very  «,cce«ful,  for  whei,  by 

rea«,n  of  the  tax  limit,  dtie.  have  found  them«dve«  n^hh 

to  finance  raqpenditure.  out  of  current  income,  they  have 

turned  readily  to  borrowing.    Inrtead  of  proving  7  ch^k 

upon  extravagance,  the  rertriction  ha.  wrved  rather  a. 

tions.     It  u  now  beheved  by  some  of  tho«  whf^ave 

rtatute  to  ne^ly  half  tiJ^L^^^S^Zltt^^S^LjS^  ^  "^ 
noiwBUooument,  No.  1808,  mmkta at  1918).  *  "*" 

m»3amam  tax  terr  rnthw  ■«  •  •.T.i^  _      ^t    !r*™" '•■■™  "•  *".■* 


410     PRINCIPLia  or  MUNICIPAL  ADIOMIITRATION 


Tk«i 


Studied  the  mtUAtion,  thorefore,  that  full  power  to  fix  the 
•nnual  tax  rate  and  full  raqpoiuibility  for  fixing  it  ■houU 
reit  with  the  dty  council.  In  order  that  there  may  be 
uniformity  among  dtiee  aa  to  what  thinp  may  be  taxed, 
however,  mxoh  matters  are  determined  by  state  oonstitutioas 
and  laws.  It  is  the  essence  of  a  general  property  tax  that 
both  real  and  personal  property  shall  be  taxed  at  exaetfy 
the  same  rate,  a  requirement  tibat  has  greatly  impaired  the 
inoome-gaining  power  ci  dties,  as  wiU  be  shown  hereaftor. 
The  levying  of  taxes  on  real  property  is  preceded  bf 
«■»  what  is  called  the  assessment,  that  b,  t^  a  formal  valuar 
pra^wtrtor  tion  or  appraisal  oi  each  pared  of  real  estate  made  by 
j°^**»-  officials  known  as  assessors.  Sometimes  the  swewising  is 
done  by  county  officials,  but  more  often  each  dty  ot 
town  forms  a  separate  unit.  The  assessors  go  about  the 
dty  and  set  down  upon  thdr  books  the  "assessed"  vahie 
of  every  piece  of  property.  Lands  and  buildings  ou|^t 
to  be  asseMed  separately;  that  is,  a  portion  of  the  total 
valuation  which  is  put  on  each  pared  of  property  shouU 
be  auigned  to  the  land  and  the  remaining  portion  osi^^ 
to  the  buUdinge}  In  not  all  of  the  sUtes,  however,  is  this 
distinction  made. 

The  assessed  value  may  or  may  not  be  close  to  the  aotusl 
market  value  of  the  property.  In  some  dties  it  is  the  prae* 
tice  to  assess  real  prop^y  for  all  it  is  worth,  or  for  ia$^ 
as  much  as  it  is  worth ;  but  in  other  places  the  assesson 
are  instructed  to  value  land  and  buildings  at  rates  far 
bdow  what  they  would  bring  if  sold.  In  Illinois,  for  ex- 
ample, property  is  required  by  law  to  be  assessed  for  ovif 


How  an 

MMMment 
{•made. 


Uw  Umit  from  tioM  to  tiim  in  ibo  o«n  Ot  pwtieatar  oittos.  The 
biiwvw  tbat  (hen  Amid  aitlMr  b*  no  rtatotoiy  Uodt  tor  tb«  tax  tery: 
or  thftt,  if  there  it  nieh  » limit,  provirftm  ■honhl  be  mede  for  u  estnnli 
inaByyeerinwUehtiievotertstAvedeleleetioBiodeeide."  — Nmsai 
Mattbbws,  Mimicipal  Charttn  (Cambridge.  1914),  p.  36. 

I  This  *n«<  other  reeommeodetiom  eoneafiiiag  tlie  methodt  «f  •■■■' 
meat  eoatained  ia  this  ehi^ter  an  in  aeeord  with  thoee  adopted  hf^ 
Natiiwal  Tax  Amoeiatfam  in  lOU.  See  ita  frecwdiafi  lor  1»12,  pg.  i»- 
370. 


MUNICIPAL  PINANOI 


411 


one  thlfd  of  iti  Mtual  worth,  imd  in  pmetioe  the  ml  flUate 
of  CMeago  is  trntrntd  at  About  one  quarter  of  its  true 
market  Tahie.  Whatever  the  method,  it  muet  be  uni- 
form throu^ut  the  dty:  property  in  one  Motion  cannot 
be  aiMaMd  on  a  different  basis  from  property  in  other 
diitnets.  After  the  assessors  have  finished  their  work 
each  owner  is  notified  of  the  assessment  levied  upon  his 

property  and  is  at  Uberty  to  appeal  against  it  if  he  so  desiiea. 
The  appeal  is  first  heard  by  the  assessors  themselves,  or 
by  a  board  of  revision,  or  by  some  other  administrative 
authority;  if  their  decision  is  not  satisfaetoiy,  there  may 
m  moit  oases  be  a  further  address  to  a  county  board  of 
equaUsation  and  in  some  cases  to  a  sUte  board  of  review. 
These  boards  are  not  always  known  by  such  names,  how- 
ever.    After  a  certain  time,  if  not  revised,  the  assessment 
Btands,  and  the  year's  taxes  are  levied  against  it.    In  most 
states  an  assessment  is  made  every  year  or  every  second 
year,  but  in  a  few  it  ^ .  tedertaken  only  once  in  four  years. 
In  the  Utter  cases,  .  <>%  ^  er,  there  is  always  provision  for 
increasmg  the  assessment  when  property  is  improved  dup- 
ing the  interval  between  assessments,  or  for  taking  off  cer- 
tain percentages  on  account  of  depredation.    The  same 
figures  usuaHy  serve  for  dty  and  county  purposes,  as  wdl 
M  for  the  state  tax  on  property  when  such  a  tax  is  levied, 
l-he  assessment  is  ordinarily  made  in  tiie  winter  or  the 

up  <rf  the  aiMwon  thmwhrw,  Trilh  or  witliout  the  .ddlttanrS 

hTZ-C'-* --,''''•""  ^J^  «»tt*  «■  voarty  done  m  Uua  oooatrr  u 
pa,  wiaoontm,  KainM.  and  mmm  other  itstM  thM«  ka  »- —  n«»rLi 


412     PRINCIPLES  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


spring,  so  that  there  may  be  time  for  protests  and  appeals 
before  the  tax  bills  are  sent  out. 
As  a  rule  there  is  no  sjrstematic  method  of  notif]ring  the 
Making  the  taxpayer  of  the  amount  of  uasessment  that  has  beoi  laid 
JTbUe'"™**  ^^  ^  property  until  after  the  assessors'  work  is  all  done; 
nor  do  the  authorities  facilitate  any  comparison  which  he 
may  wish  to  make  with  the  amoimts  levied  on  other  prop- 
erty. The  assessment  rolls,  after  they  have  been  made  up, 
are  open  for  public  inspection  at  the  assessors'  office,  to 
be  sure ;  but  few  taxpayers  have  the  time  or  the  capacity 
to  make  any  careful  study  of  them.  On  almost  any  other 
matter  affecting  them,  property-owners  are  notified  and 
allowed  to  be  heard  before  the  public  authorities  reach  con- 
clusions. Why  the  city  does  not  always  pursue  a  similar 
pohcy  in  regjud  to  assessments  it  is  not  easy  to  unde^ 
stand,  especially  since  its  failure  to  do  so  has  often  led  to 
wholesale  misunderstandings  and  is,  in  part  at  least,  respon- 
sible for  the  antagonism  which  so  many  taxpayers  seem  to 
manifest  toward  the  assessors  and  their  work.  The  prae- 
tice  of  publishing  and  distributing  the  assessment  lists 
either  before  or  after  th^  have  been  finally  revised  has, 
however,  been  adopted  by  a  few  cities.  Although  tiie 
pubUcation  involves  some  expense,  it  is  regarded  as  provid- 
ing a  wholesome  stimulus  to  the  assessor  and  a  means  d 
niHlring  the  taxpayer  content  with  his  own  assessment  by 
showing  him  what  his  neighbor  has  to  bear.* 

One  of  the  characteristic  permutations  of  our  canonised 
doctrine  that  representation  must  always  be  yoked  witii 
taxation  is  seen  in  the  popular  notion  that  those  who  in 
any  way,  directly  or  indirectly,  determine  the  amount  of 
taxes  to  be  paid  by  the  people  should  be  chosen  by  the  people 
themsdves.    In  accordance  witii  this  theory  it  was  throuf^ 


Seleetioiiof 
aannon. 


>  PabUoatioii  of  the  luta  is  raquind  by  law  in  the  dtiea  dt  lUiiioie  Mi 
Rhode  Iiluid ;  it  ia  oommon  in  nutny  mwninipdJtlee  at  MiMiuhuM<>i 
The  eo«t,  tat  a  eity  irf  100,000.  is  aboot  tlSOO  tar  ten  thonsand  aas^  w 
israe  usually  large  enough  to  meet  the  damanda  at  the  taxpayers. 


MUNICIPAL  FINANOI 


413 


out  the  greater  portion  of  the  nineteenth  oentuiy  an  ahnost 
umfom  American  practice  to  elect  uaemon  by  popular  vote. 
Withthelaigercitieedividedinto  wards,  thepracticeof  elect- 
ing ward  assessors  sometimes  developed.   These  officials  usu- 
aUyrecaved  meagre  salaries  because  they  were  expected  to 
devote  but  a  small  portion  of  their  time  to  the  task  of  assess- 
ing property ;  consequently  their  work  was  poorly  done,  and 
more  than  that,  in  many  cases  it  became  the  aim  of  the 
assessor  to  get  the  valuations  in  his  own  ward  down  to  the 
lowest  possible  figure.    This  competition  between  the  asses- 
sore  of  the  various  wards,  each  trying  to  bring  his  own 
valuations  to  a  minimum,  served  eventually  to  put  the  assess- 
ments in  some  cities  at  figures  as  low  as  10  or  16  per  cent  of 
the  real  property  values.    Naturafly  enou^  the  state  Uiws 
mtervened  at  this  juncture.    In  New  York  the  position  of 
ward  ««8essor  was  abolished  by  statute  about  1860,  and  an 
appomtive   board   of   assessors   with    uniform   authority 
throughout  the  city  was  established  instead.    Other  cities 
soon  foUowed  suit,  till  in  due  course  the  ward  assessor 
practically  went  out  of  existence.    In  many  cities  of  the 
United  States,  however,  the  assesson  are  stiU  elected: 
m  othere,  including  practicaUy  aU  the  larger  ones,  they 
are  appomted  by  the  mayor; » in  cities  governed  by  com- 

whjoh  include.  Chkmgo.  (lieflv»  mraibm  oT^B^rf  of  i«£52d2: 

Court  «,.ppd2t«,  sj^„,2r°iS»H^ 

InlSuT^Sa^'iF^''^^^  t'^^  o«  th.  court  of  comnonJK 
in  fttUbunth  the  tluM  membanof  the  BoMti  of  ItorUon  and  AMeanumt 


414     PRINCIPLES  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


mission  the  power  to  appoint  asseeson  is  sometimes  bat 
not  always  vested  in  the  commission.  Since,  however, 
these  appointments  are  only  in  rare  cases  subject  to 
civilHservice  rules,  political  considerations  continue  to  play 
^  important  part  in  the  selection  of  assessors,  and  the 
work  of  assessing  is  still  poorly  done  in  the  great  majority 
of  our  cities.  In  fact,  it  may  fairly  be  said  that  at  no 
point  in  municipal  administration  do  haphasard  and 
slovenly  methods  show  themselves  more  commonly  or  mora 
flagrantly  than  in  the  assessing  department. 

As  a  people,  indeed,  we  do  few  things  less  efficiently  than 
the  assessing  of  propcnty  for  taxation.  It  is  sddom  indeed 
that  assessors  are  chosen  because  of  especial  aptitude  m 
skill  in  appraisal  work,  and  even  when  a  promising  num 
gets  a  post  of  this  sort  he  is  rarely  left  in  it  long  enough  to 
become  proficient.  Throughout  the  greater  part  of  the 
country  our  methods  in  this  matter  have  remained  pret^ 
much  as  they  were  in  colonial  dajrs.  The  development  of 
modem  industry  and  mercantile  business  has  enormou^ 
complicated  the  matter  of  determining  actual  real-est^ 
values;  and  the  whole  problem  of  computing  personal- 
property  assessments  is  the  product  of  relatively  recort 
years.  Yet  we  abide  with  the  hallucination  that  the  woik 
of  setting  values  on  urban  property  is  a  routine  job  whiA 
any  one  can  perform  without  skill,  ir*»truction,  or  exf^ 
rience.  It  is  on  this  basb  that  we  raise  more  than  a  half- 
billion  dollars  in  taxes  each  year.  Surely  a  task  of  sodt 
importance  ought  to  demand  not  only  more  than  avMa|e 
mentality,  but  training  and  good  judgment  as  ttoII.  Am** 
ican  cities  need  skilled  assessors  and  ner.  ••m  iMdfy. 
In  no  other  department  are  obsolescer  c  ada  m«« 
certain  to  do  injustice  to  citizens  and  prt  i  Ttly  to  ll» 
city.  The  assessment  of  property  for  taxt.  aou  will  never 
be  carried  on  satisfactorily  until  it  is  regarded  as  a  fidd 
for  highly-paid  profosional  service,  until  assessow  m» 
chosen  on  a  merit  baas.    When  so  selected  they  shoold 


MUNICIPAL  FINANCB 


415 


have  security  of  tenure  and   be  duly  protected  agamst 
political  interference. 

Unta  a  comparatively  few  years  ago  it  was  the  practice 
to  assess  land  and  buildings  together  by  putting  a  lump  8p«*tod^ 
sum  on  the  entire  parcel.    Most  cities  still  continue  that  S^iS**" 
pohcy,  although  it. is  a  crude  and  primitive  way  of  doing  '"^^ 
things.    Others,  however,  are  now  required  by  state  laws 
to  hst  land  and  buildings  apart  and  lay  a  separate  valuation 
on  each     How  the  assessor  arrives  at  this  value  is  known 
only  to  hunself.    Although  the  Uws  usuaUy  stipulate  that 
he  shall  assess  property  at  its  fair  market  or  cash  value,  and 
thus  give  hun  a  quad-judicial  duty  to  perform,  the  average 
assessor  often  sets  up  his  own  standards  in  violation  of  this 
statutory  mstruction.    He  begins,  as  a  rule,  by  taking  the 
values  set  by  his  predecessor  upon  the  properties,  and  then 
proceeds  to  raise  or  lower  these  or  to  leave  them  as  they 
were.    Sometimes  the  assessors  foUow  the  general  poUcy 
of  making  aU  valuations  Ic  /  in  order  to  attract  industries 
to  the  city  or  to  ease  the  burden  of  state  and  county  taxes 
Sometunes,  <m  the  other  hand,  th«ry  try  to  raise  assessments 
aU  along  the  hne  in  order  to  keep  the  nominal  tax  rate  down 
or  to  enhance  the  city's  borrowing  power  when  this  is  fixed 
in  terms  of  total  valuations.    Some  assessors  arrive  at  a 
value  for  buildings  by  estimating  what  an  owner  could 
get  for  both  Und  and  buildings  and  then  deducting  what 
he  could  probably  get  for  the  land  alone;  others  estimate 
the  ongmal  cost  of  the  buildings,  less  depreciation ;  others, 
again,  tiy  to  set  down  the  reproduction  cost.*    Although 
umfomity  in  such  things  is  what  the  statutes  require  and 
what  fairness  demands,  there  is  usuaUy  no  approach  to  it 
among  different  cities  of  the  same  state  or  sometimes  in 
different  parts  of  the  same  city.    Discrimination  on  poUt- 
ical  or  other  grounds  accounts  for  this  situation  to  only  a 
very  sUg^t  extent;  it  is  mainly  the  logical  outcome  of  a 
^^  a*  Nath«  Mtthnr..  Municijml  Ck^rUn  (Owbridi..  1914).  pp. 


416     PRINCIPLES  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


Imimved 
method*  of 


real 
imparty. 


TiMiaitbl 
poctuhtte*. 


! 


system  that  puts  a  technical  task  into  unintelligeDt 
hands.^ 

Recognizing  the  unscientific  nature  and  consequent  in* 
justice  of  the  older  assessmmt  methodS|  several  Amerioaa 
cities  have  worked  out  and  applied  new  plans  of  nnnmiiin 
real  property  for  taxation.  These  various  plans  are  in- 
genious and  somewhat  complicated,  but  in  essentials  they 
are  much  alike.  They  begin  with  the  p<Mstulate  that  Hm 
city  may  readily  be  divided  into  several  sections,  in  each 
of  which  property  values  will  be  determined  by  special 
considerations.  There  will  be  a  wholesale  section,  a  retafl 
section,  a  manufacturing  district,  a  residential  district,  a 
tenement  district,  and  so  on.  These  divisions  shade  off 
into  one  another,  to  be  sure,  but  in  general  terms  tbqr  can 
be  defined.  Now,  if  we  take  any  one  of  these  districts,  — 
the  retail  business  section,  for  example,  —  we  sh<»^ll  find 
that  there  are  certain  definable  factors  which  give  <»s 
block  a  higher  market  value  than  others.  Central  loca- 
tion, for  instance,  or  proximity  to  main  streams  of  street 
traffic,  will  always  enhance  the  value  of  such  a  block.  And 
in  this  one  block,  in  turn,  there  are  visible  factors  that 
give  some  lots  greater  value  than  others.  A  comer  lot, 
for  example,  will  ordinskrily  have  a  higher  value  than  as 
inside  one.  The  depth  of  a  lot,  its  relative  frontage,  the 
presence  or  absence  of  an  alleyway  at  its  rear, — than 
things  are  also  elements  in  the  determination  of  values. 
Here,  then,  are  some  g^ieral  principles;  let  us  see  how 
they  are  concretely  applied. 

In  valuing  any  parcel  of  land  at  least  three  faoton 
must  be  taken  into  account,  and  often  more.    These  an 

>  8  >me  yean  ago  tbe  Bureau  of  Labor  of  the  State  of  Cmmaetieal  Mrt 
inquiries  to  about  three  hundred  UMtman  throu^ut  tlie  itate  ia  aa  «•■ 
deavor  to  find  out  what  meana  were  und  to  aaoartain  wfaethw  pntpaty 
■liottld  be  listed  higher  or  lower  than  at  the  laat  previous  valai^aa.  Thi 
reifies,  which  included  sueh  eurt  retcsts  as  "I  use  my  eommoa  aoBi" 
or  "by  attending  to  my  businesb,"  or  "by  my  penonal  ohsw»aH—" 
show  that  a  wide  margin  for  diaorimination  existad  svaiywhina. 


MUNICIPAL  nsJ^CM  417 

location  riM  and  shape.    The  last  two  items  the  assessor 

may  for  the  time  being  eliminate  from  his  mental^S^ 

tions  by  assuming  that  eve ^  city  lot  is  of  a  s3ai3^ 

and  shape;  then  after  he  has  computed  the  valued  ^e 

score  of  locatun^,  he  can  easily  by  rule  make  aUowanTe  for 

demtiomi  m  sise  and  shape.    The  fi«t  step  in  StMo 

land  assessm^t  is  therefore  to  detennine  the^ake^f » 

umt   rontage-foot  on  each  side  of  every  city  block     TW 

f^    J]  "^^  be  defined  as  a  f,.n2ge  of  ^tid^ 

foot  wide  and  of  normal  depth,  so  situated^to  b^ 

away  from  any  street  comer  or  other  influence  that^ivw 

It  aa  unusuiU  location-value.*    The  normal  depth  v^m 

r  ^Srl'^^ni  ^  N^  York  and  ClevelaaT  it  ^^ne 
hundred  feet,  in  Baltimore  one  hundred  and  fifty 

After  he  has  by  careful  inquiry  and  investigation  fixed 
Ae  value  of  this  unit  foot,  the  assessor's  next  st^p  ^Z 
detenmne  the  aUowance  to  be  made  for  lots  tW  Z 
more  or  less  than  the  standard^th  vLt  uZ 
have  been  devised  for  this  purpose,  bJt  they  a^^  ^^ 
HoffmL°"  V*  ^«d  Hoffman  rule  hud  down  by  J^ 
Hoffman  m  New  York  a  half^entury  ago.    This  dictum  wS 

^L  attrZr*^f  1?  "'  f"^  '^*  ^  ^«P*^  shoulder 
^ed  at  two  thirds  of  the  valuation  assigned  to  an  adjoining 
lot  one  hundred  feet  deep.  In  other  Ws,  two  thirfJofZ 
value  of  the  ordinary  city  lot  is  in  the  front  hl^.X^ 

o7del'*  'T  *^.  ^*'  ^««^*  '^^^  have  mS?S 
of  depth  values  which  vary  considerably.     In  Qev^? 

rrj^ro;'^''r*'^°'*^«^°*»-»^««»*t--^^ 

ff  m  JkI^°'''  r^  °'  ''  *-°  thirds,  as  i^  New 
of  th;  r^  *  ?.*^*  """^  P*««  ^'"c^t^  the  course 

lots  i^  ?^^?  ^*^?  ^"•^^^^  ^"^  ^"'"t  to  rea^ 
otsm  these  two  cities.    It  must  be  remembered,  however 
that  the  scientific  asse«mient  of  dty  lot.  do^t  ^vX  a 

'  SoientUlo  UH^nn^nt  ■■■i«mi    _      l    •. 
2ii 


faetontlmt 
detanaine 


1.  VdiMof 
foot 


S.  Swof 
the  lot 


Comer 
values  in 
dtyUnd. 


418     PRINCIPLB8  or  MUNICIPAL  ADMINiaTBATION 

•laviah  adherenca  to  these  formulas.  They  are  merely  for 
the  general  gtiidaace  of  assessors,  and  aim  only  at  securing 
a  fair  approacli  tti  uniicrmity.  When  there  is  any  good 
reason  for  departing  from  mathematical  precision,  this 
course  is  pursued  ^vitliout  hemtation. 


Dam  or  Lot  n  turn 

nMeavtAM  or  Van  YtiMt 

CtovelMd 

NevTorii 

I 

3.10% 

6.76% 

10 

25.00 

25.96 

ao 

AIM 

3&80 

m 

54.00 

48.47 

40 

64.00 

58.40 

m 

72.50 

66.67 

MO 

100.00 

100.00 

UB 

115.00 

117X» 

a» 

122.00 

130.00 

800 

137.86 

Having  determined  the  value  of  a  lot  toward  the  c&kin 
of  a  city  block  and  made  due  allowance  for  any  irreguUurity 
of  shape  or  dq>th,  the  assessor  moves  out  toward  the  street 
comers.  Comer  influence  undoubtedly  a£fects  values.  A 
comer  lot  is  invariably  more  valuable  than  its  inner  neij^ 
bora,  but  the  increased  value  which  accrues  from  such  loMr 
tion  is  not  the  same  in  all  parts  of  the  city ;  it  is  more 
important,  for  example,  in  the  retail  areas  than  in  the  ware- 
house districts.  Nor  is  there  any  agreement  among  rest 
estate  experts  as  to  how  far  the  comer  influence  extends  in 
diminishing  degree  along  the  streets  and  away  from  the 
comer.  On  the  theory,  however,  that  it  gradually  diminidwi 
as  the  distance  from  the  comer  increases,  until  it  disappean 
altogether  near  the  middle  of  the  block,  —  on  this  postulate 
various  schemes  for  definitely  computing  the  enhancement 
of  values  due  to  the  comer  influence  have  been  devised.' 

t  TheM  idaiu  are  »  UtUe  too  oompUcated  (or  brief  daieriptioa  km 
One  oT  them,  whkh  hai  been  adopted  in  Qevdaad.  Cohmdmi,  sad  ett« 


mmiciPAL  roiANoi 


419 


But  it  is  not  to  be  nippoMd  that  thcie  tables  an  intended 
to  be  appUed  mechanically  hy  tmmon.  They  are  not 
designed  to  be  a  subetitute  for  brains  and  intelligenee  in  the 
assessing  departmrat ;  they  are  rather  for  the  use  of  expert 
appraisers  who  understand  when  to  apply  them  strictly 
and  when  to  vary  them.  To  the  poUtidan  assessors  of  many 
dties  they  would  prove  about  as  useful  as  a  toble  of  loga- 
rithms in  the  hands  of  a  ditch-digger;  but  to  the  official 
;.!io  has  sense  and  skill  aioug^  to  use  than  intelligently 
these  various  schemes  of  computing  hmd  values  by  starting 
with  a  unit  foot  offer  suggestions  which  lead  in  the  right 
direction.  They  call  attention  to  basic  factors  which  dth 
termine  variations  in  value,  and  discard  the  inconsequmtials 
which  too  often  influence  tiie  unskilled  assessor. 

A  necessary  adjunctof  scientific  assessment  is  a  "block-and- 
lot "  map,  which  is  a  plan  of  the  dty  showing  every  block 
and  every  lot  in  it,  all  numbered  property.  On  such  a  map 
the  exact  area  of  each  lot  as  determined  by  a  modem  survey 
should  be  given;  and  the  assessment  should  be  made  in 
rem  or  against  the  parcel  of  land,  not  m  penontm  or  against 
the  owner.  The  name  of  the  owner  does  not  appear  on  the 
assessment  roll,  but  on  an  index  in  the  tax-collector's  office. 
Strange  as  it  may  seem,  rdatively  few  American  cities  have 
dependable  maps  of  this  sort;  and  when  surveys  are  made 
with  a  view  to  preparing  them  it  often  turns  out  that  various 
odds  and  ends  of  valuable  land  have  been  overlooked  by  as- 
sessors for  a  generation  or  more,  and  have  therefore  never 
been  assessed  or  taxed  at  aU.  Such  mishaps  are  ahnost  sure 
to  occur  whenever  a  dty  retains  the  old-fashioned  tax  roll, 
in  which  aU  property-owners  are  alphabetieaUy  listed,  with 

«tfa«,  it  «xpIaiiMd  in  •  puophtot  entitM  Ttu  aomm  Una  SytUm  vt  lUaUm 

Jltl^^^i^^  *S  *^  ¥lL"''"*y^'  Appmi-1  Compwy  of  CteveSS 
.♦?:  .;  1  "!?■??*  ^-  ^  ^*"  •»"  '^^  8cBiier«  Syrton  of  Boelty  V«h». 
mn<.  r'i^  ^^"^^y  '^T^  "f  Eeommic,  nv.  172-181  (November, 
Li  "'in  iJ^"**'!JT  0*  the  pUn,  A.  C.  PieydeU.  "The  Somen  By^ 
AiwiatUm  (1013).  pp.  387-281.  ^        «««»«  Twi 


tot" 


420     PRmCIPLIS  or  MUNICIPAL  ADMINI8TRATI0N 


laad-vahw 


ofbuSd- 


wveral  parcels  of  property  peihi^  attaehed  to  each  name. 
An  accurate  bloek-and-Iot  map  is  the  very  foundation  et 
good  assessing  methods. 

Another  useful  instrument  for  aiding  the  aasessow  is  the 
land-value  map,  which  differs  from  the  bloek-and<4ot  nu^  in 
that  it  aims  to  show  values  rather  than  areas  and  boundariss. 
The  land-value  map  is  based  upon  the  general  prine^ 
that  a  more  or  less  definite  relationship  tends  to  exist  between 

e  values  of  lots  of  the  same  general  character  in  the  same 
locality,  or  of  those  in  differ«it  localities  subject  to  simi*tt 
valufr<ietermining  influences.  It  shows  by  figures  printed 
on  the  four  sides  of  eveiy  city  block  the  vidue  pa-  frontage- 
foot  of  an  average  inside  lot,  usually  situated  halfwiqr  be- 
tween the  two  comers.*  In  this  way  the  relation  of  sssesssd 
values  on  neighboring  streets,  or  on  opposite  sides  of  the 
same  street,  or  in  adjacent  blocks,  can  be  made  dear  at  s 
glance.  Points  showing  high  values  will  grade  off  toward 
points  showing  low  values ;  everywhere  the  scale  of  values 
on  one  street  will  interlock  with  that  of  the  next  street  in  s 
way  that  can  be  seen,  understood,  and  compared.  No 
long  argument  is  needed  to  demonstrate  that  a  working 
instrument  of  this  sort  makes  for  system  and  predsion  in 
assessments.  Land-value  maps  have  been  used  with  hi|^ 
advantageous  results  in  New  York,  Cleveland,  Milwaukee^ 
Trenton,  Newark,  and  various  other  dties.  To  prevent  aiqr 
misunderstanding,  however,  it  should  be  explained  that 
these  maps  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  values  of  buildinp. 

All  that  has  been  written  in  the  foregoing  pages  applies  to 
the  assessment  of  dty  land  alone,  and  not  to  the  valuation  d 
buildings  or  improvements  on  kmd.  Large  as  are  the  taisae 
annually  assessed  on  Umd,  those  levied  on  btiildings  are  still 
larger.  This  is  probably  true  in  all  American  dties ;  but  one 
cannot  say  so  definitdy,  because  many  dties  do  not  asssM 


>  Far  a  reproduction  (on  »  ndoeed  nale)  of  me  of  the  iaiui^TefaM  ■■!* 
oaed  in  New  York  City,  lee  tba  Munsl  B»foH  tf  tk»  Ctmmtuimmn  <t 
Taxu  amd  AttuamtnU  (New  Torii,  1918),  p.  137. 


MWICIPAL  fINANOI  421 

for  land  asMWBment.  Tbia  iu  hteuuii  ».  J^TZ^  V^^ 
enter  into  the  market  ^«e  oT^^tlST-T  wS^ 
cc^niction,  age,  obwleeoence,  if  ^1.7!^  J^T^ 
bilitytovanouBu«.,aad«oon.  Individu^udime^^ 
he«  count  for  more  than  fomulai.  YrtSeiXTL^S 
have  some  «ientific  leading^rfng.  to  guideh^^tS 
The  coat  ^  construction  for  any  new  building  caTbTrJIS^ 
*8certamed ;  any  competent  builder  can  wrolt^or^S^ 
on  that  point  which  will  not  ^XeZm^y^Z 
then,  are  tables  of  coat  per  cubic  fo<i  or  smLTf^*  ot^Z 

detailed  estmuites  of  coat  and  are  freely  empTo,^  trth«f 
pu^  by  contactor..  In  New  York  CStyf  f^oX  ^a 
my  eUborate  eU«fication  of  buildings  acirSi^^ 
matenals,  use,  and  so  on  has  been  made  by  thTcit^'.^ 
pneers^  For  each  dass  of  buildings  the  1,1^"^"^^ 
the  cort  per  square  foot  of  floor  space  have^^,^ 
out  and  these  figure,  are  at  the  d^  of  thTLZ^^ 
NaturaUy    some  intelligence  is  nlSTt^  m  aT^^ 

he  more  mteUigen*  must  the  assessor  be  to  apply^T 
tL  aBowances  for  obsolescence  or  depreciation  ?to^ 
S7eZ.^r  k'"^'  ^*  "^  ^««  ^k  of  ^ 

^eloS^n^ '''^ '"?«"•"*•'    ^« '^ult  arrived  at  ^ 
nue  should  of  course  always  be  tested  either  by  referent 

was  Lfs^L'*  If  t*"^  ''^'^'  -  "»«  buillf  iT^ 

rtiironiis:'„s;^rj:w  *i^^^"^  ^  ^^^  ^- 

ut-unemacceneanbehod.    Ine  experience  in  New 


4SO    PRINOIPUn  or  MUNICIPAL  ▲DMINISTIUTION 


propwtjr. 


York  provw  that  mieh  methods  m  these  ue  pnetiesble  it 
themselves  as  well  ss  profitable  to  the  dty} 

The  SMessment  for  the  geaersl  property  tax  includes  tht 
valuation  not  only  of  land  and  buildings  but  of  penooii 
property  as  wdl,  —  that  is,  of  merchandise,  fumishiiif% 
stocks,  bonds,  mortgages,  notes,  bank  deposits,  and  so  toA, 
Here  our  nnsraring  system  has  broken  down  most  signal^. 
In  some  cities  a  form  is  sent  every  year  to  each  househokkt, 
asking  him  to  make  upon  it  a  full  return  of  his  penoosl 
property ;  but  many  persons  promptly  consign  these  form 
to  the  waste-basket.  Assessments  undertaken  in  this  waf 
are  not  satisfaetoiy  unless  the  filing  of  returns  is  made  OQii> 
pulsory.  The  assessor  is  therefore  obliged  to  estimate  as  bert 
he  can  the  value  of  a  manufacturing  company's  machimsy 
and  supplies,  or  the  value  of  the  stocks  and  bonds  wh^i 
citisen  keeps  securely  locked  up  in  his  safety-deposit  boc 
Having  practically  nothing  to  guide  him,  however,  unlets  il 
be  the  dtisen's  outward  evidence  of  prosperity,  which  vaaj 
be  rather  deceptive,  he  can  in  any  case  do  little  more  thsB 
make  a  guess,  and  often  a  wild  one  at  that.  In  actual  {»•»• 
tice  the  personal-property  assenment  is  usually  based  oo 
what  the  assessors  think  a  man  will  stand  without  viokit 
protest  or  without  recourse  to  the  higher  authorities  for  s 
reduction.  Not  infrequently  it  is  cv<!n  the  result  ot  m 
understanding  between  the  assessor  and  the  wdl-to-do  dtiiGB 
as  to  what  the  latter  will  pay.  For  it  is  to  be  rememboMl 
that  the  man  who  has  a  large  amount  of  personal  property 
is  not  without  an  alternative  when  the  assessor  comes  dovs 
too  heavily  upon  him.  The  personal-property  aBsesunMirt 
is  made  at  an  individual's  "legal  residence,"  and  a  maa'i 
legal  residence  is  not  rigidly  fixed.  He  can  change  ft 
without  altering  his  habits  of  life  very  much.  Hence  H  k 
that  so  many  men  of  wealth  who  actually  live,  mov^  sad 
have  their  being  in  New  York  or  Boston  are  legal  tmim^ 


*  See  lUpoH  ef  tk*  CtmwiiMnontn  0/  Taxu  and 
1913),  pp.  6-8;  akM  (ba  faitiinnliin  eatwnhimn 


(MevTtfi; 


ment.  in  the  w«y  of  miW  pmoaMi-proputy  mtmtZ 

in  Older  to  .ttrwt  p«w«,  of  wwilth  to  tSiafa.  eoZSS. 
I  J.  th»  competition  wnong  dtie.  «th«  thmnTSS 
dMhone^jr  «  men  that  I.  UmdMmmUSfy  wpoaSwrfeT. 

large  pMt  of  wluit  we  commonly  oidJ  ttt4dSr^ 
The  theoiy  which  hw  been  .t  the  b«*^ii,o  «-«, 

propwtyAould  be  levied  upon  •Mte.  M«y.  if  nSmo^ 
of  the  rt«te  conrtitution.  mtain  the  mjSSaent  to^ 
p«s«,td.y.  But,  lUthough  «,d»  .  poB^'^Sve  b«2 
nfied  and  when  moet  of  H  wu  tangible,  it  haa  itmmJnZ 

eal,  aooal,  and  economic  point*  of  view  the  ayatem  oftw 
jng  aU  property,  tangible  and  intangible,^  a^^XiJ^^" 
»  a  prohfic  «,urce  of  injuatice  andi^  a  SSt^ 

fo™  of  atocta,  bond.,  and  mortgage.  murtXi^  „ 

from  one  thml  to  one  half  of  hi.  income  from  it  iCS 
not  taxation;  It  iacon&cation.  Under  «,ch  an  anam»^ 
ment  rdativdy  little  can  be  nu«d  from  the  tLtST^ 

KnT:  ^*  "^^««»«*  *»»*  «^  Md  perwnal  piopertv 
t  »>?  t«ed  «f  uniform  rate,  moreover,  bT^S^ 
mg  uniformity  m  practice.  In  actual  operation  it^ 
puu  double  taxation  on  one  man  and  Z^Clll^ 
neighbor  go  wot  free.  »~««.w 


roOGBSTED  CHANOM  IN  LOCAL  TAXATKW 

JZIT"^  ^^  '**'  improving  our  ^^.tem  of  taxing 
property,  ml  and  pe«onal,  have  been  put  forwaid^ 


4M  nanomm  of  munioipai.  AmcnnmnuTio)! 


1.  Tte 


2.  Tha 


cUffennt  qiurten.  Om  it  the  prqxMal  tiirt  the 
burden  of  taxation  be  jdM^d  upcm  land,-— buik^iii  uid  pcf» 
•onal  property  to  be  Mt  untaxed  aHofetlMr.  1^  pla  » 
commonly  known  a*  tbe  aini^tax  <yi>«n.  Brio^y  tlated, 
the  augfaitiim  ia  that  the  munidpattly  take  over  ike  "w 
earned  ineremmit/'  or  aoeialiied  val^  of  lai^ ;  if  thi^  wm 
done,  it  is  urged,  there  wouki  be  no  need  to  tax  ehhw  buil^ 
inp  or  personal  prqperty.  The  argmnenta  for  and  af^Hfauft 
the  sin|^e-tax  ayitem  have,  however,  been  set  forth  ao  <rfi« 
and  in  so  many  fdacee  that  ik^  need  Mt  be  repeated  m 
evoi  summarised  hoe.'  It  ia  anot^  to  My  that  the  jmh 
posal,  while  it  has  been  tried  in  some  Western  oooununi* 
ties  with  varying  opinion  "<  as  to  ita  nioeess,  does  not  m  y^ 
eomirend  itaelf  to  many  dismminating  studcnta  of  am  urn 

The  other  {dan  is  that  taxes  on  lands,  buildkip,  i^  p«> 
sonal  propM^y  be  continued,  but  at  differoit  rates.  Hit 
rate  on  land,  it  is  eonteoded,  should  be  h^hest  of  sll,  the 
rate  cm  buildings  Ko^what  lower,  and  the  tax  on  peammd 
property  very  low.  In  justifieation  of  a  low»  n^  et 
buildings  and  improvemoits  it  is  urged  that  this  m 
is  really  shifted  by  the  owners  npon  t^3  tenant  and  ham 
ham  most  hMvHy  upon  the  pouro'  oecupania,  — thM  A  k 
■ot  dbtributed  in  accordance  with  ability  to  pay.  Mm* 
over,  the  laying  of  a  heavy  tax  on  buildinp  is  deehu^  tohe 
an  obstftde  to  the  devdopment  of  unimproved  lana  or  to 
the  reconatruction  of  buildii^  that  have  grown  obsdali. 
To  increase  the  rate  of  tana  <m  bus  while  reducing  thst 
upim  buildings  would,  it  is  dar  'd,  pr  ve  a  spur  to  improvs' 
ments  and  lessoi  the  bunkn  o  *^anB  up<^^a  th<  dwellii^ef 
the  poor.'  It  u  further  sugge^  ad  ths  n  &xmfi  ta>  tt^ 
we  might  make  a  distinctitm  betwe^      uffer  0'  i^  «s  cf 


>  For  •  eoTUf  <«  maammrr  the  nmamr  m»y  b«  r^&rrmi  oW-  K.  A.  S^ 
BHUi's  £«Miyt  i«  Taxatton  (iMh  Ml.,  N«w  York,  WU),        tii. 

'Thi*  matter  is  dMea— od  at  aom*  iMicth  in  Reptf:  >/  the  JVete  T 
CUy  ComfiMMi*!!  on  Contt^iom  of  Pop  'ation  (1911),  pp.  141-161. 


innnoiFAi.  raiAKtm 


ut 


tat 


♦*  ^  °*  made  to  in  all  of  thflm  •  hut 

^1^    w  or     ,«i  ^rejudic.     aaay  dictate,  to  tax  mui  ♦««-. 

loal  nunds  are  apt  to  leeoO. 

^'  thing, however, is aa certain a« it    in  j--  ♦!.- « 

wperty  tax  haa  proied  a  fSure  L^  «»•  i«i«al 

M  building^  JTpc^i^j^;^^.         '^or»it*i!S^ 

-ught  i«j«tiee  ev^here^  tL  ^^i^  ^  S^ 

onp  land  «»d  building,  at  diire«nt  ZJ^  iZ 

^g    dreaaonafortMdMintMwrtAl^.        ^<*  **»««  *» 

a  lower  «te  than  dtiSTfor^^H  ^        "^  ^^^^^^^  "* 

"f r-.T  ^'r^  •^--  ^^4 

*»««it  Mtlu.  M  to  th.  raJu.  of  thd,  ife^i^h!!!!! 

» i«  „o»  u^ .  .^  ^.  oirt::ss:  p^y't 


426     PRINCIPLES  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


FMribto 

MlNtittttM 

fortheper- 
maalpiop- 

1.  Tlw 

NeonUng 
tas. 


3.  The 
nciibytaK. 


1 1 


S.  The 
dMiifledor 

ITMiMi 

Itrapwtjr 


long  as  the  policy  of  taxing  it  at  the  genial  rate  has  been 
maintained.*  Not  10  per  cent  of  it,  perhaps  not  even  half 
of  that,  is  actually  taxed.  This  fact  need  surprise  no  one 
who  remembers  that  the  policy  of  levying  on  this  form  of 
property  at  the  general  rate  requires  the  owner  to  give  vp 
in  taxes  from  one  third  to  one  half  of  all  the  revenue  hs 
derives  from  it. 

Tbe  attempt  to  tax  all  property  at  a  uniform  rate  upon 
its  value  having  broken  down  so  far  as  getting  a  propv 
return  from  intangibles  is  concerned,  various  substitutes 
for  the  tax  on  the  latter  have  been  put  forward.'  One  td 
these  is  the  mortgage-recording  tax,  which  in  New  York 
state  is  a  levy  of  one-half-of-one  per  eexA  of  the  face  valnt 
of  all  real-estate  mortgages,  the  tax  to  be  paid  before  the 
mortgage  can  be  recorded.  The  device  appUes  to  mortgages 
only,  to  be  sure ;  but  these  constitute  a  large  item  in  the 
total  list  of  intangibles.  Several  states,  including  New 
York,  Minnesoto,  Michigan,  and  Alabama,  have  adopted 
this  form  of  taxation.  Other  intangible  property,  such  as 
bonds  not  secured  by  mortgages,  may  be  reached  by  tbs 
second  substitute,  which  is  commonly  known  as  the  regis* 
try  tax.  In  New  York,  for  example,  it  is  provided  that 
bonds  which  are  presented  to  the  state  comptrollw  fw 
registry,  and  upon  the  face  value  of  which  the  owners  at 
that  t'-ne  pay  a  tax  of  three^uarters-of-one  per  cent» 
shall  be  exempt  from  the  regular  personal-property  assMi 
ment  for  five  years. 

A  third  substitute,  which  has  been  used  in  such  stalls 
as  Maryland,  Pransylvania,  Minnesota,  and  Iowa,  m  the 
classified  or  graded  tax,  to  which  reference  has  ahready  bean 
made.  It  embodies  the  plan  of  taxing  intangible  personalty 
each  year  at  a  fixed  rate,  uniform  in  all  municipalities  ni  ^ 

>  New  York  f^Moial  T»x  CommiHion,  lUpart,  1007,  n>.  S7-50. 

■  Fm  farther  data,  eee  "Report  «t  th»  CMumittee  on  PrasttMkbb  M^ 
etitntM  for  tlw  Peramukl  Property  "Hui,"  in  AMnaaet  and  Proemdimfi  4 
tht  F^k  Annwd  dmJtrmM  on  Stale  oMi  Loeai  Ttatatiam  (Cohuabin,  IM9i 
n>.3S8-84S. 


MmnCIPAL  UNAKOS 


427 


state  and  lower  than  that  impoaed  on  any  other  form  of 
property.  The  aq>erienoe  of  Baltimore  seems  to  prove  that 
the  plan  can  be  made  to  work  successfully.  In  that  city 
the  reduction  of  the  intangible  rate  to  a  reasonable  point 
has,  within  the  hist  fifteen  years,  enormously  increased  the 
total  amount  of  this  property  avaikble  for  taxation.  It  has 
been  urged  that  a  rate  of  three  mills  on  the  dollar,  or  three 
dollars  upon  every  thousand  dollars  of  market  value,  might 
rrove  the  most  satisfactory  figure  for  a  tax  on  intangibles. 
iit  all  events,  the  personal-property  tax  as  now  administered 
in  the  majority  of  our  cities  is  regarded  by  every  serious 
Btudfflit  of  administration  and  finance  as  impracticable  in 
its  workings  and  unjust  in  its  results.  Attempts  to  secure 
constitutional  or  legisUtive  permission  to  impose  a  lower 
rate  on  personal  than  on  real  property  have  not  made 
rapid  headway,  however,  chiefly  because  the  average  voter 
finds  it  hard  to  realise  why  the  wealthy  bondholder  should 
have  what  looks  so  much  like  favored  treatment. 

But  these  do  not  exhaust  the  list  of  possible  subetttutes 
for  the  old-fashioned  personal-property  tax.  It  has  been  *•  ^*« 
suggested  that  a  local  tax  upon  incomes  mi^t  serve.*  S;f*«~ 
Obviously,  however,  if  it  were  assessed  in  the  way  in  which 
the  personal-property  tax  is  now  levied,  it  would  constitute 
little  or  no  improvement  whatever.  In  those  stotes  where 
the  personal-property  and  local-income  tax  exist  side  by  side 
(as  m  Massachusetts,  for  example)  it  has  been  found  that 
one  is  just  about  as  easily  evaded  as  the  oUier.  But  where 
the  assessments  are  made  by  sUte  officials  (as  in  Wiwjonsin) 
the  income  tax  may  prove  more  satisfactory. 

The  trade  or  business  taxes  that  have  been  laid  eartensively 
in  the  cities  of  continental  Europe,  particulariy  in  Prance  «•  i^«b« 
and  Germany,  have  proved  very  productive.    In  Prussian  SST 

T.1^"  ^L^^*^  '""*  !»»««»  Tte  ■•  •  flolMtitat*  for  the  Vwamtr 

TK  on  ««teia  Forms  of  Penautty  in  tlM  State  at  WinouiB."  tolX 

local  Taxatipn  (ColumlHi.,  1911).  pp.  W-mT^  »'••¥•'»«•  M  MM  SM 


<iiil       in;   1    ,»<i 


428     PRINCIPLB8  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINI8T1UTI0N 


e.  tim 

lwMt»tiMi 
tax. 


cities  all  taxable  industrial  and  mercantile  establishments 
are  levied  upon  according  to  their  profits  as  determined  in  a 
method  prescribed  by  law.  On  tlds  basis  the  imdertaldnp 
are  grouped  into  classes  and  different  rates  of  taxation  are 
applied  to  each,  the  highest  class  paying  at  the  rate  of  one 
per  cent.*  New  Orieans  and  some  other  American  cities, 
chiefly  in  the  South  and  Southwest,  have  had  considerable 
experience  with  trade  taxation  under  the  name  of  "graded 
license  taxes,"  imposts  that  tend  in  the  course  of  time  to 
become  what  are  virtuallv  income  taxes  on  biisiness  apd 
professional  incomes.  Trade  taxes  are  also  levied  in  some 
Canadian  cities.  One  of  the  chief  objections  to  this  qr»> 
tern  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  work  of  grading  the  tax  in  ao* 
cordance  with  the  character  of  the  business  may  degenerate 
into  a  process  of  log-rolling  among  business  interests  to 
obtain  a  favorable  status  in  the  tax  laws.  Anothor  draw* 
back  is  that,  when  the  grading  is  according  to  the  amount 
of  annual  profits,  there  arises  the  serious  difiSculty  of  di»> 
covering  accurately  what  these  profits  are.  In  the  realm 
of  business  the  tax  machinery  is  very  likely  to  become  a 
weapon  of  economic  discrimination,  to  be  used  for  the  pur* 
pose  not  only  of  getting  revmue  but  of  fostering  some  in- 
dustries and  discouraging  others. 

Then  there  is  the  habitation  tax,  or  tax  on  the  oeoupaot 
of  property  according  to  its  rental  value.'  Local  taxes,  or 
"rates,"  in  England  are  levied  in  this  way ;  the  asuessmwit 
is  laid  upon  actual  or  assumed  rental  value,  and  the  tax, 
althouf^  levied  on  the  tenant,  is  often  "  compounded  "  and 
paid  by  the  landlord.  In  England  the  system  applies  to  all 
real  property,  whethw  used  for  industrial,  mMoantile,  or 

>  FVir  ft  ihart  MeooBt  of  the  qraten.  ne  W.  H.  Dswioa.  Munittf^ 
Lift  and  OvMrmmttU  in  Omrmant  (Loadoa,  1014),  n>.  40S-MQ. 

*  DiMonkHui  BOBwniii^  tha  aetaal  mridnn  of  tmdo  and  haUMta 
tMM  vmj  bo  fonnd  ia  tho  Adirtama  and  Fraetiiin0i  of  tha  NatioMl  Tm 
Assodatios  (8  rah.,  1907-191^.  Ia  1908  tite  aasM  at  ^  ooRf^Ktioii 
waaohai«ad  to  lataroatioBal  Tax  OMBriatinii,  bat  ia  1911  f- 
title 


MUNICIPAL  FINANCB 


420 


residential  purposes.  In  this  country,  however,  it  has  been 
suggested  for  residential  property  alone  and  as  a  supplement 
to  the  business  tax.  These  two  taken  togr  er,  it  is  thought 
might  repUce  the  tax  on  personal  property  or  the  income 
tax;  for  annual  rental,  it  is  urged,  is  a  fair  index  of  a 
householder's  total  expenditure.  The  scale  of  taxation  is 
usuaUy  progressive,  the  rate  increasing  graduaUy  as  rent- 
als rise.  This  system  has  been  used  in  Prance  for  many 
years.  ' 

Each  of  these  forms  of  taxation  has  received  careful  study 
during  the  last  ten  years.    An  examination  of  their  relative  Conduitai. 
merits  and  practicabiUty  by  at  least  a  score  of  tax  com- 
missioners in  various  states  has  shown  that  each  of  them 
offers  some  advantages  and  that  to  each  there  appear  to  be 
serious  practical  objections.*    A  good  deal   more  actual 
experimenting  with  them  will  be  necessary  in  this  country 
before  a  final  verdict  can  be  given.    On  one  point,  however, 
most  people  are  agreed,  —  namely,  that  the  general  property 
tax  18  never  Ukely  to  prove  a  satisfactory  method  of  raising 
the  Urger  part  of  our  city  revenue.    It  is  costly  and  difll- 
cult  to  assess.    It  can  never  be  made  proof  against  dis- 
crimination and  favoritism.    Its  proper  administration  de- 
mands more  skiU  than  the  average  city's  assessing  and 
financial  departments  are  Ukely  to  command  under  our 
general  conceptions  of  democracy  in  local  government. 
By  many  economists  it  is  beUeved  to  be  fundamentally  un- 
sound.   But  whether  it  should  be  replaced  by  a  graded 
property  tax,  or  by  income,  trade,  or  habitation  taxes,  or 
by  some  combination  of  these,  —  that  is  a  matter  which  it 
"till  within  the  realm  of  eontrovearsy. 

the  Special  CtmmMon  m  Tm^lUm  M  C.r,.r*to;,  (1M8)T    ^^  * 


430     PRINCIPLES  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTBATION 


Home  rule 
<w  local 
option  in 


TbiDargu- 
BifAti  for 


HOME   RULE  IN   LOCAL  TAXATION 

The  general  rules  dining  what  property  is  taxable  and 
how  it  may  be  taxed  are  practically  everywhere  made  fay 
the  state  and  apply  to  all  cities  within  it.  On  the  postulate 
that  all  cities  are  not  alike  in  their  resources  or  problems,  it 
has  been  urged,  however,  that  each  mimidp^ty  should 
have  the  right  to  decide  such  matters  for  itself,  just  as  maiqr 
of  them  now  decide  upon  their  frames  of  local  government. 
Sometimes  complete  autonomy  in  taxation  matters  is  con- 
tended for;  more  often  it  is  suggested  that  some  general 
fields  of  taxation  be  assigned  within  the  limits  of  which  the 
city  may  do  as  it  pleases.  In  favor  of  th&  latter  policy  many 
plausible  arguments  are  advanced.  Local  dkcretion,  it  is 
urged,  is  better  able  to  meet  local  needs ;  local  option  ill 
taxation  would  break  up  the  rigid  uniformity  of  our  tax 
system  and  would  pmmote  oilightening  experiments,  — u, 
for  example,  with  the  practical  workings  of  the  single  tax. 
Why,  it  is  asked,  should  a  community  which  freely  debof 
mines  how  its  money  shaU  be  iqient  not  decide  also  how  this 
money  shall  be  raised?  But,  as  with  almost  everything 
else  in  the  realm  of  taxation,  there  are  some  serious  obje»« 
tions  to  the  local-option  policy .*  It  is  to  be  remembwed 
that  there  is  in  every  community  a  large  amount  of  propertgr 
belonging  to  non-residents  wUch  ought  to  bo  proteetod 
against  unfair  discrimination.  It  is  also  highly  undeairaUs 
that  one  municipality  should  have  the  rig^t,  by  granting 
artificially  low  rates  of  taxation  or  «itire  exranptions,  to 
entice  industries  away  from  other  places.  Abuses  of  thv 
sort,  by  way  of  giving  absurdly  low  assessments,  have  been 
to  some  extent  common  in  the  past.  Hie  plan,  moreovw, 
in  the  opinion  of  those  imposed  to  it,  is  liaUe  to  lofter 

*  For  the  beat  biM  nutunary  of  Uie  Mimnnta  far  sad  >plMt  kmi 
option  in  ta»tion,  lee  PnfeHor  C.  J.  Bollodi'i  pftpw  in  AMnun  mtt 

(Cohunbof.  1912).  pp.  271-278.    B«lHmww  to  fortlMr  iliws«lwM  at  III 
question  are  then  gtvea. 


MUNICIPAL  UNANOK 


431 


reckleas  experiments  whieh  will  work  to  the  disadvantage 
of  minority  interests.  It  will,  they  chum,  make  of  the 
power  to  tax  a  weapon  in  the  hands  of  whatever  local 
faction  happens  to  be  supreme  for  the  moment.  In  short 
tf  local  option  in  taxation  has  its  merits,  it  has  also  such  mani^ 
fest  dangers  that  some  years  of  experience  will  be  necessary 
to  prove  which  predominate.  Oregon  adopted  the  plan 
in  1910,  but  retained  a  whip-hand  over  the  municipali- 
ties by  providing  that  the  tax  systems  chosen  by  local 
option  should  be  "subject  to  any  general  law  which  may  be 
hereafter  enacted."  The  experience  of  this  state  during  the 
next  few  years  will  afford  an  interesting  object  lesson. 

TAXOfO  PUBUC-fiKSVICB  COMPAinKS 

There  is  one  fertile  source  of  municipal  revenue  which, 
unta  recent  years  at  least,  has  been  very  inadequately  ex-  i^-o. 
ploited  by  American  cities.    This  is  the  pubKo-utility  cor-  JSS^^w 
poration.    Ahhoui^  these  public-service  bodies  have  ao-  «»»**«• 
quired  franchise  rights  of  enormous  value  in  the  streets  of 
every  American  city  (in  New  York  Qty  the  public  utifitieB 
that  use  the  streets  are  capitalised  at  over  a  biUion  dollars) 
we  have  until  within  the  last  generation  been  accustomed  to 
look  upon  them  as  public  benefactors  and  to  lay  the  burden 
of  taxation  very  lightly  upon  their  shoulders.    This,  how- 
ever,  is  no  longer  our  attitude.    All  American  cities  are  now 
endeavoring  to  make  such  corporations  contribute  their 
proper  share  to  the  gena«l  municipal  revenue.    Not  that 
they  always  meet  with  success,  but  they  are  getting  far  more 
revenue  in  this  way  than  they  used  to  realise  from  such 
sources.    The  question  is  now  not  whether  a  public-service 
corporation  ought  to  pay,  but  rather  how  its  payments  to 
the  municipaUty  ought  to  be  determined.    There  are  at 
least  a  dosen  different  methods,  aU  of  which  have  been 
tned  in  one  or  more  dties  with  varying  results.^ 


432     PRINCIPLES  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


HowlerM. 


ObiwI 
of 


a.  Ob 


Before  mentioning  the  more  important  of  these  pUns,  one 
may  '  iSl  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  proper  assessment  of 
public  utilities  for  taxation  is  a  work  of  peculiar  difficulty. 
In  the  first  place,  the  public-service  corporation,  whether 
it  be  a  street-railway  or  a  lifting  or  telephone  company, 
very  frequently  carries  on  business  in  more  than  one  rnunid- 
paUty;  and  of  course  one  city  cannot  levy  taxes  within 
the  boundaries  of  another.  0^  the  other  hand,  it  is  not 
practicable  for  each  city  to  assess  and  levy  taxes  upon  that 
portion  of  the  business  which  is  within  its  own  bounds.  To 
get  at  its  proper  value  or  its  earnings  for  purposes  of  tax»> 
tion  one  must  take  a  public  utility  as  a  whole.  Hmee  it 
is  usually  necessary  to  onploy  some  method  of  centraliaed 
assessment,  with  a  later  distribution  of  the  tax  proceeds 
among  the  municipalities  concerned. 

The  simplest  plan  of  taxing  public-service  ooiporatifnis 
is  to  assess  their  real  estate  at  the  regular  rates,  just  as  if  it 
were  the  property  of  individuak.  In  a  few  cases,  notal^ 
in  New  York,  the  franchise  of  such  a  corporation  is  also 
treated  as  ordinary  property  and  is  assessed  aeeordingly  by 
a  state  board.  But  the  proper  value  of  neither  its  mi 
estate  nor  its  franchise  can  be  determined  with  much  ap- 
proach to  aeeuracy.  The  market  value  ai  a  street-railway^i 
terminab,  i^rage-yards,  power-houses,  and  so  forth  are 
necessarily  hard  to  estimate.  So  long  as  thqr  form  part 
of  a  going  and  payia^  comsem  they  may  have  a  high  value, 
but  reckoned  mn^  as  otdmary  lands  and  buildings  they 
would  be  worth  a  great  deal  less.  Besides,  a  large  part  of 
the  corporation's  capital  may  not  be  invested  in  real  estate, 
and  hence  eannot  be  rMched  thra«|^  channds  of  real- 
estate  aasessmoit. 

A  second  plan  is  to  Iiqr  tuns  on  a  publio-wrvioe  company's 
capital  stock  at  its  nuurket  value,  deducting  the  nwiiMnri 
value  of  its  real  estate,  losaily  assessed  and  taxed.  & 
Massachusetts  the  taxes  <m  the  maricet  value  of  oapitid 
stock  are  levied  by  tiie  state  and  titen  dii^buted  among 


^nmciPAL  FINANCl 


m 


the  cities  and  towM.    Exeept  in  the  ca«j  of  «t««t  «.ii-. 
The  noH,  general  method  >|qdie.  oM  on^to^LV^    '^' 

thing  nay  be  Mid  in  tevor  of  tU.  nl^  ™  ik.  ,  " 

pUcity,  «  wdl  M  on  the  mund  tSTit^tl     I?  "^  "^ 
H^^»^    On  tk.  ouThaS^  t  i.  b^t  ^  tr* 

p-.ssJinriX^X'^t'zr- 
SLTra^^tlr;  Ll^r''"' T-^*^^^ 

•Mvice  haa  not  Drared  uliJ^t^     ">•  ■peaflc  tax  on 
b«n  mo»  widd/^^*^"*"''  •'"^'  *''•»  »  k- 

«on  befo^th'Tn^^X  l^ZTT^.^'^r- 

or  replacementa  or  «Sna  a«^Z!L,  r*'  °??*'^ 

tocome  and  what  to  ^wT^W^StS^.'^T'''''  " 

^t^HS^tl'L"tSt^•  ■""?*'  >»«ia  of  S: 

t~     ™™«''">'«l»di««toi.ean  within  certain  limit. 


4M     PRINCIPLn  OP  MUNIOIPAL  ADMIinimUTION 


8.  Ob 
•aniiilt. 


radttoe  or  increMe  expeiues  at  wiU  tad  to  affeet  net 
inCB.  Whoi  carefully  framed,  however,  the  plan  of  raquut^ 
ing  a  share  in  net  eaminci  has  its  possibilities,  as  ChioaflB's 
recent  experience  with  the  traction  franchise  has  shown. 

A  much  bettM*  plan  is  to  tax  the  gross  *^gnin|p  Tlian 
are  after  all  the  best  indication  of  what  a  puMioBWfiss 
corporation  gets  from  its  franchise  privileges  Mid  what  it  ii 
able  to  pay  in  return  for  them.  They  may  and  often  do 
increase  while  the  value  of  the  company's  real  estate  w  the 
viUue  of  its  capital  stock  ranainsstationaiy.  Gross  eandnfi^ 
moreover,  are  eaqr  to  ascertain :  they  are  not  subject  to 
book-keeping  quibbles.  They  cannot  be  manipulated  eampt 
by  fraud  of  the  most  obvious  character.  To  levy  a  tax  en 
gross  earnings,  moreover,  requires  no  dabmrate  iupervjsin 
of  the  company's  expoues  or  accotmting,  and  no  ints^ 
fermce  with  its  eveiy-day  management.  "In  short,  it  ii 
safe,  c«rtain,  non-evadible,  ineaqtensive  in  operation,  ade- 
quate, if  the  rate  be  hi{^  enou^,  and  as  equitable  as,  if  nol 
more  equitable  than,  any  other  tax  applicable  to  pvHtSk 
service  corporations."  *  When  taxes  are  laid  upon  the  gnw 
earnings  the  municipality  becomes,  as  it  were,  a  prefemd 
stockholder,  getting  its  dividend  in  taxes  before  the  onft- 
naiy  shareholder  is  considered.  Students  of  taxatJMi  an 
now  pretty  well  agreed  that  to  tax  gross  earnings  is  tlM  belt 
way  of  getting  for  the  dty  a  certain  and  fair  share  in  the 
profits  of  privately  owned  public  utilities.  Tbmt  stS 
remain,  however,  some  difficult  questions  as  to  what  tkl 
city's  share  in  these  gross  earnings  should  be.  Oug^t  the 
share  to  be  in  lieu  of  taxes  or  in  addition  to  taxes  on  a 
company's  real  estate?  Should  the  city's  share  be  the 
same  in  all  publio«ervice  operations,  — in  street  raihrays  $tti 
lighting  plants,  for  example?    %ould  it  be  a  fiat  share,  or 


*  C.  C.  PMm,  "Tuo^oBof  PoUie  Sarv'iw  Cwpwatioat,"  ia  JUirmm 
and  Pneetdingt  of  lh»  Fint  Natiomd  Conftnnet  on  Aote  ami  Loett  Tmm- 
tion.  (1907),  p.  048.  Tlw  BMrita  ana  daltota  of  the  wiout  matlndiat 
tudocpabfisoorpontkHuan  okMly  pKteatodiatUi  wtkle  (pp.«BMIQ^ 


MUNICIPAL  lUTANOI 


486 


groM  ino(Mn0 


ahould  the  nty'i  percentage  grow  m  the 
inereMesr    These  are  »U  difficult  queetione. 

In  many  eaM»  publieiervioe  companies  agree  to  give,  in 
part  payment  for  their  franchise  righto,  various  free  services  •• 
to  the  muniapaUty.    They  undertake,  for  example,  to  place  SU. 
free  telephones  m  dty  offices,  or  to  light  certain  public  "«»«• 
itreeto,  parks,  or  building,  without  chaige,  or  to  pave  por-  """^ 
tions  of  streeto,  or  to  remove  snow,  or  to  give  free  trana- 
portation  for  dty  employees.    Some  of  these  things  it  may 
be  desirable  to  have  in  an  agreement,  but  so  far  as  mo^ 
of  them  are  concerned  the  dty  is  likdy  to  be  a  loser  in  the 
long  run.    On  paper  it  appears  as  if  the  companies  were 
pvmg  a  good  deal ;  but,  reduced  to  definite  figures  of  cost 
these  free  tdephones  or  lighto  or  car  rides  represent  a  very 
«maU  contribution  to  the  dty.    It  is  mudi  better,  on  the 
whole,  to  arrange  that  the  munidpality  shaU  get  ite  entire 
•hare  m  cash,  even  though  it  may  have  to  pay  at  fuU  rates 
for  the  services  which  corporations  supply. 

There  is  one  thing  above  all  othen  which  ou^t  to  be 
borne  m  mind  when  the  policy  of  taxing  public-service  coiw  wtep^ 

porationsisunderdiscusdon,--aveiydementaiycon«der»-  SLST 
tion,  yet  one  too  often  overiooked.    It  is  the  phun  fact  that 
an  taxes  on  pubUc  utiUties  are  paid  by  the  pubUc.    Many 

P««>ns  seem  to  talk  as  if  such  taxes  were  paid  by  the  diare. 
holder^  as  if  taxes  might  be  imposed  ruthlesdy  with  no 
sequent  effect  on  diarges  to  patrons,  on  service,  or  on  any- 
thing but  annual  dividends.  The  truth  is,  however,  that,  if 
a  corporation  cannot  pay  ito  taxes  without  impairing  dther 
di^d.  or  service,  it  wffl  sacrifice  the  latter.  Very  often, 
therefore,  the  question  of  an  increased  tax  on  a  public 
utihty  resolves  itodf  into  a  matter  of  putting  an  impodtion 
opon  the  customers  of  a  gas  or  an  deetric  company  for  the 
benefit  of  the  taxpayers  at  large. 

A  few  American  dties  levy  a  poll  tax,  but  they  rarely 
make  more  than  a  half-hearted  attempt  to  collect  it.  This 
tax,  which  is  oommonty  fixed  at  one  or  two  dollars,  is  imposed 


486    PIUNOIPLU  09  MUNICIPAL  ADMINnTIUTION 

ujxm  every  adult  male  rendeat  of  the  dty,  and  henee  dio^ 
be  paid  by  from  one  fourth  to  om  fifth  of  the  eity'e  cntfif 
pq^ulation.  In  praetiee,  however,  a  dty  never  begina  to 
realise  any  lueh  reault ;  it  ia  fortunate  if  it  manages  to 
gather  in  one  half  of  the  awe— ed  polls.  The  income  boa 
this  source  is  rdativdy  so  small  and  so  difficult  to  oollasl 
that  there  is  a  temptation  to  abolish  the  tax  alU^ether. 


gPKUL  ABSHBaiOBMIS 

When  any  public  improvement  directly  enhanoes  the  vahie 
of  neighboring  property  the  practice  in  most  munidpalitiss 
is  to  assess  upon  it  a  portion  of  what  the  improvement  has 
cost  the  city.  This  levy  is  known  as  a  heUtmuiiU  iMX,  n, 
in  America,  more  commonly  as  a  $peeial-a$$etmuni  or  Iws^ 
improvement  tax.  Strictly  q>eaking,  this  levy  is  not  rei^  a 
tax,  and  is  not  reqxiired  hy  the  courts  to  conform  to  the 
usual  constitutional  rules  affecting  equality  or  uniformity  of 
taxation.  The  idea  underlying  the  q>eeial  assesemmt  is 
the  simple  principle  that  those  whose  property  puns  in 
value  by  a  public  improvement  ou(^t  to  contribute  pro* 
portionatdy  to  the  cost.  The  custom  is  of  English  oiigia 
and  was  in  vogue  as  eariy  as  the  seventeenth  century ;  as 
interesting  description  of  the  way  in  which  it  was  ap|disd 
may  be  found  in  Pepys's  famous  Diary  under  date  of  Deomh 
ber  3,  1667.  In  time  the  betterment  system  of  heljung  to 
pay  for  public  improvements  fell  into  disuse  in  Englandi 
but  not  before  it  had  made  its  way  to  Amwica  during  tiw 
colonial  period.  Here  it  has  remained  and  grown  in  pops* 
larity,  until  its  use  has  bwome  so  common  in  ail  parts  ci  the 
United  States  that  by  practically  every  large  American  «ily 
the  measure  is  now  onployed  more  or  less  as  a  means  of 
financing  puUic  undertakingB.*    It  is  an  interesting  bad, 

>  Oa  tiw  origia  and  aMiy  bbtoty  of  qMeU  MMMSMBta,  tmM.tLL 
SaUfinui.  Ettay  in  rosoNM  ^h  ad..  New  Torii,  IMS),  ppw  <    ~ 


HmnOtPAL  FINANOI  437 

Engbnd  duny  the  l«.t  few  decMiee,  md  in  .phe  «rf  the 
vigoroue  orooriticm  eneounte«d  f lom  l«r»  P«»pSyKmne», 
^bcen  UMd  m  ocmi»«rti<m  with  »vena  Lond^  i;;^^ 

When  •  dty  undertakee  «  pubUe  improvement  like  the 
oonttouetum  of  «  new  -ewer  or  »  etwet  perement  there  is 
conadenbie  direet  expenditure  involved,  and  when  it  opens 
a  new  street  it  usudly  h^  to  pay  substantiid  sums  in 
compensation  tor  private  property  taken  for  the  purpose, 
u  well  as  for  the  actual  eonstruetion  work.    For  a  wrt 
of  this  outlay  it  endeavoia  to  reeoup  itself  by  ealUng  upon 
neighboring  owners  to  pay  something  for  the  benefits  which 
their  respective  properties  receive  by  reason  of  the  im- 
provement.    As  a  rule  such  special  assessments  may  not  be 
levied  unless  there  has  been  an  actual  benefit;  but  this 
rule  has  its  exceptions,  and  in  any  case  the  question  whether 
property  has  or  has  not  been  improved  often  becomes  a 
matter  of  controvec^y  which  can  be  determined  only  by 
resort  to  litigation.    Other  restrictions  upon  the  dtyVridht 
to  levy  are  set  by  state  constitutions  and  general  laws,  but 
these  limitations  differ  greatiy  in  tiie  various  sUtes.    In 

some  the  dty  i.  not  allowed  to  asssss  any  part  of  the  actual 
cost  of  acquiring  land  upon  neighboring  property;  it  may 
««8e6g  to  help  defray  costs  of  construction  only.  In  some 
other  sUtes,  altiiouc^  fl>«ari  assesmeots  to  help  pay  the 
cost  of  land  acquired  for  new  parks  or  streets  are  per- 
mitted,  th^  are  not  customary.  In  othos,  again,  then 
are  restrictions  as  to  what  proportion  of  the  cost  may  be 
defrayed  m  this  way  or  what  extent  of  surrounding  area 
may  be  levied  upon.*  Within  tiiese  limits,  whatever  tiiey 
may  be,  or  m  some  cases  by  virtue  of  the  provisions  oon- 

•For  datyb  m  to  thaw  nililiilliiiM_  ^  wimwal  n»tbi«  .^  «  t 


488    PRINOIPLM  C9  MUMIOIPAL  ADMIMUTRATKHI 


Ourwp^ 
thabattar- 


taiacd  in  *  qMeUU  ttetnto  mthoriiiiig  the  imptotrnm/i, 
the  dty  authorities  dnw  up  their  liet  of  ipeeiel  ■MMmniti 
•nd  Uie  ownen  of  tiae  proportiee  eimeenied  ere  notiieiL 
The  ■weewnente  are  proportioned,  as  neariy  as  may  be,  te 
the  actual  enhancement  in  market  value.  The  ownoe  wgr 
pror  ct  against  the  amounts  levied ;  they  often  do  so.  h 
that  ease  hearings  are  granted  thou  and  then  the  levies  nu^ 
be  reduced.  If  tiiey  are  etill  dissatisfied  they  can  have  the 
ammmts  detmaained  by  legal  process,  a  recfnirse,  howevw, 
wfaidi  always  means  a  good  deal  of  delay  and  espenss,* 
Very  often,  from  the  nat\u«  of  the  ease,  the  question  m 
to  the  amount  of  qieeial  assessment  is  bound  up  with  the 
mattor  of  compensation  for  lands  takm,  and  both  are  sMtU 
together. 

The  eq)erienee  of  American  cities  in  the  way  (rf  finattei^{( 
pabUe  improvements  by  the  levy  of  special  assessoMSli 
has  differed  from  dty  to  dty;  many  have  had  str'ldog 
success  with  the  plan,  while  a  few  have  found  it  qmts  la* 
satisfaetory.  In  New  York,  Denver,  and  Kansas  City,  for 
example,  large  sums  have  been  levied  and  promptiy  eot^ 
lected  without  difficulty  or  litigation.  In  Boston,  tm  the 
other  hand,  the  dty  coUeeted  in  q)edal  assessments  duiiag 
the  decade  1895-1906  less  than  a  quarter  of  the  total 
amount  levied.  This  poor  showing  is  due  in  part,  no  doubt, 
to  the  fact  that  the  dty  did  not  att«npt  to  collect  the 
q>ecial  assessments  until  after  the  improvem^ts  were  Mm- 
pleted,  and  then  soue^t  to  have  than  pud  all  at  once.  Qli 
the  whole,  dty  authorities  throu^mit  the  country  ue  i^ 

>  Ob  tlM  |M«ri  iritiM  of  tettwnMBt  leviM,  tte  rwdor  may  Im  Ntand 
to  Uw  eh»|i(er  OB  "IIm  Battarmrat  Tu"  is  1.  R.  A.  MifmHi't  Smmi«i 
TaxatUm  (8th  «d..  Maw  Torii.  1013).  and  to  Viator  Roaawatw'a  «p«W 
A—umtntt  Od  ad.,  Maw  Tori^  UBB).  a  moBognvh  wUah  atffi  talthi 
eoBridarable  aaafttlBaaa  daapito  tba  ftet  that  it  waa  puMiahed  man  Am 
tmaty  yaata  ago;  ateo  to  Chailaa  H.  HaoyitOB'a  rrwiMw  m  tAa  Um^ 
Ttinttm  hr  Spteiti  Atttmmtntt  (Ohieaco,  IflOT);  J.  F.  DiBM't  £»<^ 
MtmieJjMi  Corporatfofu  (5th  ad.,  6  rt^,  Boatoa.  1911).  v<rf.  ir.  ^  ani: 
•ad  W.  H.  Fhfa  aad  Paid  Jma^a  IVMMat  an  t*f  Low  1/ roMMan  »v  £mI 
•nd  apeetti  AtmummU  (2  vola.,  OndaBati.  1909). 


tbdr  opting  M«  •wwrtim*  M  ku  lebeBi^to^STiM 

wckooed  up  that  the  ben«fit»  to  •dimm  propertyhl^ 
been  ovawrtimtad  tad  tlut  not  •UtJwtwLS^S 

nuee  have  «.ni^  to  com  the  rmtoH^rt^^ 

the  books  beeauM  ooiwideratioBi  of  i»liti«dm21^ 

!!,!^?^  ^  America  dtie.  -a  da»,  how^^^TSe 
"PeciataaseMment  lyrtem  haa  proved  a  pnwjtieaWe  mMW 
of  ^curing  kiv  contribution;  towaH  ^o^f^ 
improvwnenta.      Kanns  Qtv  for  —J-j!  v        ^     . 

2;^ual  t«e«ui«nt  an  important  »«»e  of  »mJ^Ll 
without  ph. -ng  unfair  b«^ ent  anywhar^ 


'■^TF.»;a 


^oiTBciB  o»  cnr  bisvinob 


from  ^  T  "*?*  «>n«id««ble  nims  .tt)  dmved  each  vear 

^2h?'  '^''^'^  into^cting  liquo^  ^^  STlf 
oT^n       hcenaee  co  .f  the  holder,  a  thoos^^d  dollar,  a  y^  "ST*^ 

iXeJZ^;  ""'  ^""^  "^"^  -mailer  n^^::^;  — "^ 
JL -f^^flSr  •  «~*  »"y  oth«  ti^ie.  or  indu»: 
»n^-froa  peddle»,  auetionee«,  i^wnd-hand  dealw^ 


440     PRINCIPUeS  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINI8TIUTI0N 


keepers  of  ganger,  proprieion  of  pUteea  of  amuBement, 
and  to  forth.  Many  cities  likewise  require  small  fees  for 
permits  of  various  sorts,  —  as  for  permission  to  occupy  a 
portion  of  the  street  during  private  building  operations,  or 
to  conduct  excavations  undor  sidewalks,  or  to  make  water 
and  sewerage  connections.  Most  of  the  fees  are  small  in 
amount,  but  taken  together  they  yield  a  considerable  in- 
come each  year.  The  number  of  occupations  and  trades 
which  the  municipality  deoms  it  advisable  to  supervise  and 
r^iulate  in  this  way  is  steadily  increasing.  There  is  also 
some  revenue  from  the  fines  impoMd  in  the  munidpal 
courts,  from  forfeited  bail,  and  from  the  other  inddents  oi 
judicial  administration.  AU  in  all,  however,  these  rardy 
amount  to  more  than  one  per  cent  of  the  city's  entin 
revenue. 

In  many  states,  particulariy  in  the  Middle  West  and  ia 
^I^MPiwta  the  Western  sections  of  the  country,  an  annual  grant  or 
subsidy  is  distributed  to  the  local  authorities  from  the 
state  tr?«VBury,  usually  as  a  contribution  toward  the  ex- 
penses oi  local  school  administration.  Sometimes,  as  has 
been  i.^*v.  .,  noticed,  the  distribution  is  on  a  basts  of 
enrolled  pupils,  sometimes  on  a  basis  of  population,  and 
sometimes  on  still  other  standards.*  In  some  eases  ^e 
amounts  are  lai^  and  go  a  considerable  way  toward  paying 
the  cost  of  maintaining  the  city  schools.  Occasionafly 
str  contributions  are  made  for  other  local  purposes, 
as  i^i  the  support  of  destitute  soldiers  or  for  poor  rtXUl 
in  gmeral.  Some  cities  also  possess  endowment  or  trust 
funds,  the  incomes  of  which  are  used  to  maintain  public 
libraries,  parks,  hospitals,  or  orphanages. 

When  a  city  owns  and  operates  a  water-supidy  system  or 
a  lic^ting  plant  or  other  public  utility,  its  gross  annual  kf 
come  from  that  source  forms  a  considerable  item  in  the  Uil 
of  yeariy  revenues ;  but  this  gross  income  is  in  some  mm 
neariy  offset  by  fixed  and  operating  expwises.    Few  AnMii> 

'  Sae  «bov«,  p.  889. 


IfUNlCIPAL  nNAMCI 


411 


true  of  mumopal  .b.ttoi«  and  markets.    Lightrng^u 

thq^  yield  arobrtMtul  net  am<mat  to  the  munidpaTS^asu^ 
eaohyear;  but  whether  tho«,  which  «re owned  i^dop^ 

that  eannot  be  answered  in  geneiml  terms.    Oti*.  ir«L  ^k  • 
accounts  difTe^ntly;  they^l^tllS^  tS^^^^Jfo:: 
ance.  for  d5»«d.tion;  «,«•  allow  for  tax  ^JZT 
whUe  other,  do  not    Even  when  one  considem  aSjT' 

ipal  utihty  «  a  real  piofiti,KKiucer  or  whether  it^ta  TZ 
contrwy  actuaUy  operated  at  a  loss.  It  is  ea^  f or  h  "j^ 
authorities  to  make  a  diowing  of  profit ;  it  sels  to  be  TZ 
about  as  easy  for  the  sUtistician  to  deLnstr^  that  it^ 
not  a  profit  at  aU  At  any  rate,  this  fZ;^^^*,^:^^^^ 
ab^  ^^  much  less  important  in  American  d^« 

If  the  financial  reports  of  various  American  dties  be 
exammed    it  will  be  found,  nevertheless,^  tS^hirf 

Cwif*"*  equal  d«^  but  the  four  or  five  sourJ« 
from  which  any  one  dty  gets  the  bulk  of  its  income\^ 

mumcipahtie.  throughout  the  otmtry.  These  four  or Zb 
-urces  are  taxes  on  pn,perty,  both Zl  and^^,  or  oa 
mcom«;  income  from  pubK^ervice  corporaS^Tr^w 

Lime .  •*  **^'  *^'  *^«'  ~»^  °'  »»»^ 


C«n««,  SiitltMii.  No.  las.  givw 


»•  maMflad  nvMiM  (1918)  of  four  oitiM 


442     PRINCIPLI8  or  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


Ka» 

of  eitjr 
Nvcaue. 


Municipal  authoritioi  and  othoni  have  for  Mvnral  yeai» 
been  engaged  in  a  diligent  aeareh  for  new  wurcos  of  tity 
revenue,  but  they  have  not  mieeeeded  in  finding  many  thai 
can  be  utilised  under  preaent  oonstitutionai  reetrietimt 
».nA  prevailing  public  soitiinent.  The  caty'u  lieenaing  ftfug 
mi^t  be  graatly  extended,  it  is  true,  and  its  eztoision  woult 
undoubtedly  Imng  in  more  revenue.  Encroachments  as 
the  public  thoroui^ares,  whether  overhead,  on  the  suriaet^ 
or  bcdow  the  street  levd,  should  be  nuule  to  pay  heavily  whoh 
ever  they  are  peradtted  at  all.  A  substantial  income  mi|^t 
be  had  each  year  from  the  strtet  taxation  of  bill-boards.  A 
tax  on  bill-boards  is  a  tax  on  hixuries ;  for,  althoui^  ths 
board  itsdf  is  very  far  from  being  a  luxury  to  any  cmo* 
munity,  the  advertisements  which  it  carries  rdate  main^ 
to  liquor,  tdbaceo  or  cigarettes,  chewing  gum,  theatriod 

ritustad  in  dtf  «nat  psrU  of  Um  eouatry  bat  of  sppnudmateiy  tha  Mat 
popttlatioii :  — 


SovMS  ov  SBwm 


GeMral  property  tuet 
apuial  ptopmeij  imam 
Pidl  mad  ooeapatioB 
Biirfnw  tMW   .    .    .    . 

Non-lnuilMM  UOMHW  tMM 

FiaM.  fo>Mta,  ete.      .    . 
■■bveBtkm  and  sraata 
DonatioiM,   Mid  pMMkm 
Bta     .    .    . 
of  sMMnl  do- 


Hi^nragr  privfli0M     .    . 

of        iBTMtflMat 


iDtMWt 

iMiiiasi  of  pabHe-nrvkM 


Wsltr  Mppljr 
All  other    .    . 
Totals     . 


(P»p.  iis,an) 


tl.402.444 


83.763 

ia.745 

304.904 

4.448 

08.745 

9.575 

84387 
34.369 

8.907 
49.141 


300.984 
36.gg8 


Ct.30a.536 


(Pap.  10».0«S) 


tl,000.9«0 


90A)B 

8i980 

38.656 

153U 

886.984 


43,179 
165.394 


».755 


16.859 


0.085.708 


Cm 
(F««.t0lk7U| 


834M7.443 
344.611 
35.738 

sisss 

1.427 


5,748 
3.31'^ 

1316 

64,437 
83,691 


154,^ 


309,788 
30JW 


11367341 
"30311 


n; 


83.133348 


MUNICIPAL  fINANOI 


418 


performMce.,  and  lo  forth.  In  Buenoi  Aiwt  tlie  eity 
trea««y  receive,  •net  income  of  about  one  hundred  tho^ 
sand  dolhur.  annuaUy  from  the  biU-boanl.  which  it  own.  uid 
te»««,;  while  m  New  York  Qty,  it  i.  ertimated,  the  S 

S^^  It  *^f  ,r  P"^""*  °'^«»  •  «««  »«>»•  «f  more 
than  a  mdhon  doUare  per  ye.r.»    If  anywhere  there  i.  an 

r.i.T  -^Kf  '  ^^'^  "^'^  ■""^  P»*  together  wouW 
hardly  yield  the  equivalent  of  an  additionalmiU  on  Te 

doUar  of  property  a«e«nent.  If  dty  revenue,  are  to  keep 
pace  with  growmg  expenditure.,  one  of  two  thing.  mS 
happen :  ather  new  ta».,  mich  a.  the  trade  tax,  murt  be 

laid  m  addition  to  the  exirting  taxes  on  real  prepe,^,  or  the 
rate  of  property  taxation  muat  be  moved  un  i^hy  y^ 
The  tatter  i.  the  line  of  leart  re«t«»ee,  -rithat^X 
American  dtie.  are  following  it.  ^^^         ummway 

The  preceding  page,  have  tried  to  .how  wlive  the  aly». 
revenue   com«   from.    The  next   queation   natunlly  i^  wn^m. 
What  doe.  the  city  do  with  tU.  money?    What  auth^  ^"^ 
determme  how  it  diall  be  ip«t?    What  ^fepiaT^  J^"" 
hecity  now  po«e..  agai,^^  eon«,»t  or  waatXTpendi- 
turee,  and  are  th.»  a  wffide.*  proteeti«if    If  Bot,\fcat 
further  precaiHioiM  are  needed?    Tha^^^^^'^^ 

but  withart  getting  accurate  anawew.    A.  a  matter  ol  f ael. 

mmany  communitie.  the  qu<«tion.  go  unamwrered  altogette! 
The  average  voter',  tack  of  predM  knowledge  in  thiT&Mi, 
probably  more  pronounced  than  in  any  other  branch  of 
mumcipal  affai,..    He  wiU  ««ially  ei^re»  the  convicti« 

tioa^KSTi  bTSsTc  i?ajs^        ^  ^^ 


444     PRIMCIPLM  OP  MUNICIPAL  AOMINUnUTION 


TwoTold 

eharaotor 

oftlM 


that  the  city  if  not  getting  enou|^  return  for  what  it  qMads, 
that  money  is  bong  wasted  aomewhere ;  but  if  you  adc  Um 
why  he  thinks  so  or  how  the  money  is  wasted  you  will  get  an 
answer  which,  however  ready  it  may  be,  is  rudy  more  than 
a  guess  or  suspicion  based  on  no  knowledge  of  the  actual  faets 
or  figures.  He  will  often  seise  upon  official  rogueiy  as  the 
cause  of  the  trouble,  because  this  is  the  onv.  exi^anatimi  whidi 
any  man  can  put  forth  without  study,  reflection,  of  evidsBce. 
Now,  in  any  serious  attempt  to  lay  a  finger  on  the  real 
reasons  for  over-exp«iditurea  in  American  dty  govenrntsBt 
the  first  question  is,  Whoo  does  the  dty  charter  lodge  tlM 
ultimate  respondbility  for  q>ending  puUie  fumb?  ]^t  it 
must  first  be  explained  that  the  spetuiing  power,  so  caDed, 
is  itself  made  up  of  two  distinct  things,  —  nanuty,  of  the 
power  to  appropriate  money  for  assigned  imrpoees,  and  the 
power  to  ditbwm  or  aetuaUy  apptfi  these  appropriated  funds 
to  the  purposes  designated.  These  two  powers,  which  for 
want  of  better  terms  may  be  called  the  appraprvOing  and 
iiiitmrnng  powers  respectivdy,  may  or  may  not  be  vested 
in  the  same  hands.  The  traditional  American  notion  is  thirt 
in  all  branches  of  government  they  should  be  kept  separate 
and  be  exercised  by  different  men  or  groups  fA  men.  Thus, 
Congress  makes  the  appropriations  for  the  expenses  d 
national  government;  but  the  executive  dqM»tment% 
which  are  responnble  to  the  preddent  alone,  control  the 
actual  disbursing  of  the  funds  when  once  the  appn^br 
tions  are  made.  The  state  legislatures  make  the  gniirt% 
but  the  governors  and  the  heads  of  the  varioua  executive 
dqimrtments  apply  the  funds  to  thdr  designated  purposn. 
So  it  has  been  in  most  dties.  The  dty  ooundl,  wfaetlMr 
made  up  of  one  or  of  two  chambers,  has  so  thoroughly  < 
trolled  the  appropriations  that,  as  a  rule,  it  has  not  ' 
posdble  to  spend  a  sin|^  ddlar  without  its  authmtaation; 
but,  once  the  appropriati<Mis  are  made,  the  mufot  ami  At 
heads  of  departments  are  usually  intrusted  with  full  poww 
to  do  thf«  actual  disbuidng. 


MUNICIPAL  FINANOI 


445 


Unto  about  twraty^ve  or  thirty  veui  am  thu  *-•  • 

wwwHP  one  of  itt  eommittefli.  DmnaNiH  •  u^a^     iTT  i  iS!!*' 
for  rtwrtt,  idiooH  poBoe,  fii«  prot^rttenr^tewrt  ondt^ 

hew,  and  decwawd  thefe.  When  finely  adortJfcT. 
mjority  v^  of  the  eouncOmmi  itl^  to  ^^or 
who  itgned  it  Md  aottaed  eaeh  department  that  J^S 

Zir^lSir^  ^  '^'^  •Wwopriationrtor  hWn 
ward  or  dirtiMt ;  moniy  waa  appmiwiated  for  thin«^ 
the  city  aa  a  whole  did  not  want  or  need;  and^JI/«„ 
one  upon  who«i  Aauld«.  the  uhinuite  aSSmS^for 
extr.va.anee  eouW  be  laid.  Aeeo«iin.lyT^M«^^ 
«»«y  to  take  itepa  toward  eheoUnc  thkabuae^Ae  an^ 

WMW  m  APPBOPBunNo  Fown  n  plackd 
Thig  haa  been  done  in  three  definite  wava.  whiah  m.«  k- 

ongmated  in  New  York,  n  to  eraate  a  mmiiMl  hti^.ii*    rfMmiitat 

rfiviAJ^T^r^     .       "PIwopriAtinf  authority  remains 

w-ponribibty  than -dated  under  the  old  vrtem. 
"»e  Moood  plan,  which  is  now  in  operation  in  Boston 


1.  nr* 

bnwiaf 


446     PRIKCIPLBS  or  MUNICIPAL  ADAfINBTR4TION 


a.  Byin- 
— ringtha 
■Mjrer't 


3.  BywM- 

ingtbesi^ 

piopriatiiic 

and  disbur»- 

intpowcn 

together. 


and  most  o^er  citiM  Ot  MaaMehuMtts,  is  that  of  intnnt- 
ing  to  the  maymr  tiie  w(m4c  of  drawing  the  list  of  appropriao 
tions  lor  the  year.  This  list  goes  to  the  city  council,  whidi 
may  reduce  or  omit  any  item  but  may  not  insert  ot  in- 
crease any.  Hiat  is  a  step  even  doso*  to  the  fusrae  ci 
approprinting  and  dislMunnng  pow«rs  in  tiM  same  hmda, 
for  in  actual  piaetice  the  mayor  acquires  the  mne  in- 
fluential shara  in  Making  tke  list  of  approprivdMis. 

Finally,  thme  is  the  eonwniswiqn  Bjrstem  of 
which  frankly  wdds  the  two  powers  t(^^er :  the 
sion  makes  the  appropiiatitms  and  du^urses  the  moasy  ap 
well.  Althou^  this  imM>vation  is  a  nutical  depwtiue  frooi 
our  time-hcnored  doetine  of  divisioB  of  powos,  it  has  a^ 
IHractice  proved  to  be  a  step  in  the  rq|^  <&eoti<m.  At  any 
rate,  the  old  doctrine  of  complete  #vistmi  between  tibw^ 
appropriating  and  disburni^  powers  in  dty  govemmo*' 
seems  to  be  doomed.  So  far  as  most  dties  Me  oeosernsd^ 
the  city  council  has  already  lost  its  initiative  in  bw^(el- 
making,  and  it  seems  to  be  only  a  mattw  of  time  bcfsn  it 
will  have  lost  that  right  everywhere.  Public  ofiaaxm  Yam 
come  to  recognize  the  fact  that  a  divided  respoanbiUty  tw 
city  expenditures  is  intolerable.  The  making  of  the  annus! 
budget  must  not  be  left  a  prey  to  log-rolling  proeesses. 


pal  bud 
get:  how 
HU 


MUNICIPAL  BUDCHST-MAKma 

These  are  the  three  <yffw«it  plans  by  whidh  the  raaj^nty 
TiMmuniei-  of  .\merican  cities  now  lodge  responsibility  for  the  vaumm 
of  their  appropriating  power.    Let  us  see,  then,  how  As 
budget  or  list  of  appropriations  is  actually  drawn.^    At « 

>  On  general  bti^et-nukinK  pifodplea  uid  methods,  lee  the  ohapUr  as 
"Prineiptee  of  Bik|p^M»king"  in  P.  A  Clev^iid'i  Ckapttrt  m  Mif 
nieipol  Admini$tratimjmdAeeountmt^(Kvw  York,  1900),  pp.  tff'Sl;  tts 
publkation  entitled  M'tlfktf  a  Munie^  Budget,  iMued  by  the  New  Ten 
Bureau  ot  Munksipal  ReMMwh  in  imf:  the  artiele  on  "EMentfaJg  rf  > 
Good  Budxet  from  the  Viewpoint  of  thr  Stetistioian,"  by  LeOm^  Fowcn. 
in  Proeteding*  of  tke  Nation<d  Auociation  of  ComptroUera  and  Aea 
.Ofieert,  1911,  pp.  47-74;  and  «ie  Report  an  Praaata  MMoia  af 


MUmoiPAL  PINANOI 


4i7 


fixed  d«te  in  eaeh  year  the  boutl  of  eethute,  or  the  nuyor 
or  the  eommimon,  or  whoever  in  intnuted  with  the  initial 
tive  m  budfet-malong,  wiU  raeetve  from  the  hoMl.  of  the 
vanoy.  dty  deputmmU  their  ertimate.  of  probable  expendi- 
ture  during  the  earning  fiaeal  year.    Thoee  department* 
which  have  to  do  with  the  raising  of  revenue  wiU  also  be 
called  upon  to  eubmit  figuiea  of  probable  income.    These 
vanou.  estimates  of  anticipated  expenditure  and  income, 
when  propwly  wvised  and  arranged  in  an  oideriy  fashion, 
make  up  what  is  known  as  the  city's  budget,  which  may 
•cowdm^y  be  de8ned  as  "a  formal  and  complete  statement 
of  proposMl  financing  for  a  fiscal  year,  comprising  estimates 
of  revenue  and  authorisations  of  expenditure."    Such  esti- 
mates and  authorisations  may  be  itemised  or  segiegated 
m  gMat  detad,  or  they  may  be  giv<m  in  round  figures/ 

Jn  New  York  City  the  segregated  budget  system  is  used, 
mthesummerof  each  year  the  department  of  finance  die-  rusm, 
tnbutes  to  all  the  other  departments,  bureaus,  boaids,  and  i'SL'SL 
commMsions  for  whose  support  money  is  appropriated  by 
the  city  a  supply  of  estimate  forms  calling  for  detaUed  il 
formation  in  support  of  the  requests  to  be  made  thereon  for 
appropnatioBs  for  the  ensuing  year.    The^  forms  aiford 
opportumty  to  indicnte  not  only  the  actual  expendituies  of 
the  d^artment  for  the  preceding  six  months  and  for  the 
preceding  fiscal  year,  but  abo  the  actual  consumption  of 
«uppl»es  and  materials.    For  the  purpose  of  obtaining  a 
uniform  bans  for  co^wring  the  esUmated  expenditures 
JJth  what  has  aetuaUy  been  spent  in  previous  years.  ih% 
finance  department  provides  a  staadaid  classification  of 
Mlanes,  suppUes,  and  so  forth,  which  must  be  used  by  all 
departments  in  submitting  their  estimates. 

These  estimates  are  retomed  to  the  department  of  finance 
m  September,  and  are  then  distributed  for  study  and  rqwrt 


448     PRINCIPLW  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


Thepablio 
hcailagi. 


to  eiainuiera  familiar  with  the  needs  of  the  dqMurtmeiit  oat 
departments  assigned  to  them.  For  a  month  these  exanh 
iners  study  the  estimates,  conferring  with  representatives  oi 
the  departments  in  an  effort  to  determine,  so  far  as  possible, 
the  irreducible  minimmn  of  money  upon  which  the  several 
departments  can  be  efficiently  administered ;  then,  basing 
their  action  upon  the  results  of  this  month's  work  supple* 
mented  by  their  own  previous  intimate  knowledge  of  depart- 
mental needs,  th^  make  recommmdations  to  the  board 
of  estimate  and  apportionment.*  Next,  this  committee 
holds  hearings  on  the  appropriations  for  the  several  depart- 
ments, each  hearing  hdng  attended  by  representatives  of 
the  department  whose  appropriation  is  under  consideration, 
as  well  as  by  the  examiner  who  has  reported  upon  it. 
The  department  head  defends  his  original  request  in  the 
hope  that  the  budget  committee  may  override  the  ree* 
ommendations  of  the  examiner ;  the  examiner,  on  the  other 
hand,  offers  evidence  in  substantiation  of  his  recommenda- 
tions. The  budget  committee  decides  between  the  two, 
and  its  allowances  are  then  printed  for  distribution  as  a 
"  tentative  budget."  • 

Shortly  after  the  publication  of  this  "tentative  budget" 
a  series  of  public  hearings  is  given  by  the  board  of  estimate 
and  apportionment  as  a  whole.  At  these  hearings  any 
interested  taxpayer  may  appear  to  plead  for  increased 
appropriations  at  any  point  in  the  budget,  or  to  oppose,  as 
excessive  or  unnecessuy,  appropriations  made  for  purposes 
with  which  he  is  not  in  sympathy.  When  the  hearings  an 
over,  the  board  makes  a  final  revision  of  the  budget  ia 
accordance  with  its  best  jui^ment,  and  adopts  it  not  lat« 
than  the  first  of  Novembor. 

The  document  as  passed  l^  the  board  of  estimate  is  then 

>  The  board  of  eatiniate  tad  apportkMuiiMit  ii  oompoted  of  the  <bs9|<^ 
the  eraapteolkr,  the  pceadrat  of  the  board  of  aUkniMa,  and  the  vm 
b«tni|^  preiidrate. 

*  In  1913  thie  poblioatioD  made  a  printed  doennMnt  of  man  than  Ms 
hundred  pages. 


MUNICIPAL  FINANCE 


4m 


unleM  ovenidd.li  in  thii  w.v   i.  »».  _  T*^     "*"' 
inilirabij  .'.  J.  P™uniii»ne«  the  ranoiu  amounta 

obLf  \S2^  It  prevent,  the  divenion  of  fund,  to  one 
.ntm^Lt.^  T*  ^'^  .ppreprintion.  but  g»nT;h«^ 

The  K«n«ted  taH^  •  "*"'''°•""»'™~«'««»'• 
•«d,  whet  i.  periup.  ,^  im^rt^t^rniT^'' 

and  oveHtemiiatioT^^    *  !*^  ^  "«*'*  elaarification 


I 


j||kji4iiiiiiiii 


460     PRINCIPLM  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMIKIITIUTION 

•xereiM.'     lo  Iradfet  Mgreg*tion,  m  in  moti  otho*  jHumt 
of  the  efficiency  movement,  the  chief  dangw  Uei  in  the 
temptation  to  eaity  thinp  to  an  extrwne. 
Another  arrangement — hiUierto  uied  in  Boiton,  foreKam> 
Tkt;'hmi   pie — is  commonly  known  ae  the  "lump  ium"  budget  q» 
I!?  t«n.    In  the  late  autumn  of  each  year  the  mayor  mida  to 

all  the  departments  and  brandies  of  the  dty  administratioa 
a  supply  of  bUmk  estimate  sheets  calling  for  a  certaa 
amount  of  detailed  information,  but  not  nearly  so  much  as  is 
required  under  the  New  York  plan.  Even  what  is  asked 
for  is  not  always  returned,  and  by  some  deparUnents  the 
officisl  blanks  are  not  used  at  all,  on  the  ground  that  thssa 
forms  do  not  meet  their  special  requiremoits.  Each  in  its 
own  way,  however,  the  various  dqwrtments  make  up  and 
send  tile  mayor  thmr  estimates,  some  giving  very  full  de- 
tails, others  almost  none  at  all.  When  all  the  retunw  emne 
to  hand,  early  in  January,  the  mayor  usually  makes  a  hoii- 
sontal  reduction  in  their  totals,  but  does  not  in  moet  essci 
indicate  the  exact  items  to  which  his  reductions  are  to  he 
applied,  for  the  very  good  reason  that  the  itemisation  cf 
the  departmental  estimates  is  not  sufficient  to  enable  hin 
to  do  so.  After  thus  revising  the  totals  tiie  mayor  comf^ks 
them  into  an  appropriation  ordinance,  or  condensed  budgsli 
which  he  sends  to  the  city  council.  Along  with  this  budgd 
he  transmits  the  original  estimates  submitted  to  him  fagr 
the  departments,  but  these  are  not  of  much  help  since  thsfc 
totals  do  not  correspond  with  those  in  the  mayor's  budgil 
ordinance.  The  city  council  has  no  power  to  inoiesse 
the  appropriations  recommended  by  the  mayor,  but  it  nuqf 
omit  or  reduce  any  of  them  subject  to  his  veto.  PuWt 
hearings  are  announced  by  the  council  during  its  coimiim 
ation  of  the  figure,  but  these  have  been  rather  perfunetMjr* 
When  the  budget  has  passed  the  council  it  goes  back  to  thi 

is  Hi 


■  Sm  Um  uguBMOt  on  this  point,  baaad  apoa  Mtusl 
imbtieaUon  entitlMl  Next  A*jm  in  UU  Dmtl^rmiU  if  a  Bmd§H 
far  th«  CUy  of  N«»  York,  imatd  by  tlie  BuraMi  ot  Muoieipsl 
(New  Yorli,  1914). 


MUMIOIPAL  UNANOI 
mayor  for  hb  ligiutiire,  wlitniipoa  Mdi  dmutmiat  Mto 

ertiiiMit«tluititoriflMllyittlMiiitt«L»  -•-««  ^w. 

T^'hunp  ««"  budirt  qrM«B,  ••  ii«d  in  Borton, 
dMdo^  mwy  g»ve  ■hortoominp.    Por  one  thiag,  it  hj  Hi**-* 
■ffofded  no  wftlprotwjtion  Haioft  the  UMof  fundi  for  puiw 

po«iothorthMtho»  for  which  thiyww»g»nt6d;  oJZ 
contrwy,  rach  timntfo.  or  div«rion.  havTbewi  Lde  in 
Ufio  Miountt  ovwy  y«ir.  It  hM  proyrf  no  dqK»ndJo 
check  upon  the  teodenqr  of  depwtment  hrndT^^^ 
thefa.  yropristion..  It  hn.  mbjeeted  the  nuyorwd 
hewto  of  departmente  to  aeontinuia  bombaidment  for  in- 
crcMed  ramuneration  from  ereiy  quarter  of  the  dty '•  lervioe 
«d  et  aU  p«i«i.  of  the  yei^.    It  ha.  prevented  iJ^J^ 

I  ^I^  ,  ^'  "**^  »  that  a  syitem  lo  deficient 
ri|ould  be  io  lone  permitted  to  continue  in  any  American 
city;  and  yet  th«e  are  not  a  few  munidpaUtiee  in  this 
countiy  which  either  vote  their  appropriation!  in  lump 
>um.  or  .egiecate  the  iteme  to  «id,  a  meafie  eitent  that 
they  gam  none  of  the  raal  advantagM. 

Thero  are  four  eHentiab  of  a  latiaf actoiy  budfet-maklng 
»yrtem;  ^  theee  we  aet'ired  the  detaib  aro  not  of  groato^  n,— 
IS!!?^*!.^  the  fi»t  place,  the  eetimatee  should  be  sub-  **— ' 

dassifieatkm  as  to  be  readily  comparable  with  those  of  a 
pnor  year.*    The  puiposeof  this  itemisation  is  to  show 


tt*«i«r 


"**""*•  ■■  OnUaSBM  WM  HMMd  aHMl^W  M.  ■nail. I  ^~7^. 

to  inqain  into  tlw  ■nwaJBeTrf  MTSJLgr;-??'!.. 


PVbiiMtkMI 


v^ouMtHm  npUss  «|Hri,  ,^^4  tUMs  AsbU  be  fa 


Mdocorr  iwoiunoH  tut  chaw 

(ANSI  and  ISO  HST  CHART  tto.  2) 


1.1 


lii 

|23 

|» 

IS 

Itt 

l£ 

|22 

1:1 

L& 

■^ 

yo 

|2|0 

11.8 

11.25  iU 


1.6 


A 


/^PPUED  M/1GE    Inc 

165  J  Eott  Mom  SUMl 

RocMiUr.  N«  York       l*e09      US* 

(716)  482  -  0300  -  Phe«i« 

(716)  M»  -  S»»  -  f" 


452     PRINCIPLES  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


what  things  actually  cost,  and  to  prevent  a  later  appropria- 
tion that  may  be  made  for  one  purpose  from  being  used  for 
another.  No  greater  detail  is  needed  than  enough  to  secure 
these  ends.  In  the  second  place,  the  estimates  should  be 
examined  and  reported  upon  by  some  one  who  is  familiar 
with  the  methods  and  needs  of  each  department  but  is  not 
directly  connected  with  it.  No  mayor  or  committee  of  the 
council  can  perform  this  function  properly,  for  these  officiab 
have  neither  the  time  nor  the  special  knowledge  required. 
In  the  third  place,  before  their  final  adoption  the  estimates 
should  be  considered  at  public  hearings.  In  most  cities  there 
is  very  little  popular  interest  in  such  matters,  but  this  is 
largely  because  no  serious  attempt  is  made  to  set  them  be- 
fore the  public  in  tmderstandable  form.  Chambers  of  com- 
merce, local-improvement  associations,  and  various  other 
civic  bodies  would  unquestionably  be  represented  at  such 
hearings  if  the  issues  could  be  made  to  centre  upon  specific 
appropriations  for  clearly  defined  purposes.  And,  finally, 
the  budget,  when  passed,  should  not  grant  to  each  depart- 
ment a  total  sum  to  be  expended  more  or  less  at  discretion ; 
it  should  present  an  array  of  exact  appropriations  to  be  used 
as  des'gnated.^  And  this  last  arrangement,  if  it  is  property 
carried  out,  need  not  deprive  a  department  head  of  reason- 
able freedom.  The  purpose  for  which  public  money  should 
be  spent  is  a  matter  of  policy,  to  be  settled  by  the  policy- 
determining  organs  of  the  city,  that  is,  by  the  mayor  and 
council,  or,  in  commission-governed  cities,  by  the  commis- 
sion. It  ir  not  a  matter  for  determination  by  administra- 
tive officials.  No  greater  discretion,  therefore,  need  be  left 
to  the  head  of  a  department  than  such  as  will  enable  him 
to  make  the  best  use  of  his  funds  within  the  exact  limits 
of  the  purpose  for  which  each  appropriation  was  given  to 

>  The  annual  budget  of  New  York  City  has  in  recent  yean  owtaimd 
about  20,000  items.  The  objeotiona  to  ovw^tgngiMon,  and  wme  iB> 
dioationa  as  to  tiie  extent  to  iriiioh  itemiiation  may  ivofltably  be  eairiad, 
may  be  found  in  the  Report  </  tite  Commiaaion  on  Aa  Form  «$  ikt  Aim«ii 
StidtM  (BoiUn.  1915.  37  pp.). 


MUNICIPAL  FINANCE 


4S8 


prewion,  neither  the  m^  „~^r^.     ""  '^"'"  ™- 

or  of  lowering  thi  nite  I»  .i.  sJT^'^i  "  of  increasing 
portion  of  the*b^ff.,  t^'itl,^'  "  <»'»!.<''»'"• 
payment  of  uito^Ton  13 5eS  j^^'T*?* '" 
Mnking  funds  and  fn,  .k.  II^T  '    v        '.      wntabutioM  to 

though  technicaUy  within  the  iZef  of  th«  t^       '^' 

counca  to  deal  with  as  they  pleaae  aTnot  r!Jn  ^"^  '^^ 
of  ffl«>f     Toir-  ♦!.     _.    ^  H^wMc,  are  not  really  so  in  point 

two  mills  on  th7doUar  or  ^7  ?i!  .  ^®°*  °^  °»«  *>' 

m  any  one  year  without  seriously  criDnwT-     V""^.^"* 
tive  departments.  "^no^siy  cnpphng  its  admmistra- 

raWEWr-DAT  CITT  KXPENDITURBS 

.^o-f^  z  ;^i^o?  JSiT'^ti  j-af :  ^ 


(1)  mote 

npkUythui 

population; 


(2)  more 
lapkUythan 
property 
Ttlustioiia. 


Whythii 
keo. 


454     PRINCIPLB8  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

increased  with  extraordinary  rapidity,  but  expenditures 
per  head  of  pop  Jation  advanced  more  rapidly  st}U.  Since 
1900,  moreover,  this  discrepancy  has  been  greatly  accen- 
tuated; city  expenditures  are  now  enlarging  nearly  three 
times  as  fast  as  urban  population,  and  this  in  spite  of  the 
fact  that  the  growth  of  American  cities  has  been  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  social  phenomena  in  world  history. 

But  it  may  be  urged  that,  since  revenues  come  from  prop- 
erty rather  than  from  persons,  it  U  the  increase  in  property 
values  and  not  the  increase  in  popuktion  that  should  be 
used  as  the  standard  for  measuring  enlarged  expenditures. 
Property  values  in  American  cities,  taken  as  a  whoH  are 
increasing  much   more  rapidly   than  popuktion.    Exact 
figures  are  hard  to  find  on  this  point,  for  the  recorded  assessed 
valuations  aflford  an  undependable  gauge  of  market  valu(M; 
but  the  proposition  that   values  increase   more   rapidly 
than  population  is  everywhere  admitted.    Nevertheless,  the 
increase  in  property  valuation  is  not  keeping  pace  with  the 
growth  of  municipal  outiay.    The  advance  in  expenditures 
has  been  so  steadUy  outrunning  the  annual  increase  in  as- 
sessed  property  values  that  not  only  have  mumcipal  tex 
rates  been  raised  all  along  the  line,  but  an  earnest  search  for 
new  sources  of  revenue  has  been  forced  upon  nearly  every 
large  city  in  the  land. 

The  reasons  for  this  phenomenal  waxmg  of  expenditures 
are  not  far  to  seek.  Every  urban  community  is  annuaMy 
caUing  upon  its  local  government  to  perform  new  public 
functions.  Better  service  is  demanded  from  existmg  ad- 
ministrative departments ;  new  branches  of  administration 
are  being  constantly  established.  Particularly  m  tiie  fields 
of  education,  charity,  correction,  and  general  social  bettw- 
ment  the  extension  of  pubUc  effort  has  been  very  great.  M 
these  things  cost  money,  not  much  perhaps  at  the  outset, 
but  steadily  more  as  each  new  function  broadens  its  scope. 
The  scale  of  prices  in  all  the  domains  of  pubUc  as  well  as  of 
private  business  is  rdentieasly  moving  upward.    Wages  <A 


MUNICIPAL  FINANCn 

labor  are  eveiywhere  higher,  supplies  and  matoiab  cost 
more ;  a  dollar  does  not  seem  to  go  half  so  far  in  public  busir- 
ness  tOKiay  as  it  did  three  or  four  decades  ago. 

The  figures  compUed  by  the  Bureau  of  the  Census  on  this 
pomt  are  impressive.*    Taking  the  146  cities  of  the  United 
States  (havmg  populations  above  30,000)  for  which  figures 
are  available  during  the  entire  period  from  1902  to  1910,  the 
bureau  has  found  that  the  net  cost  of  government,  —  that 
IS,  the  cost  of  protecting  life,  property,  and  health,  of  supply- 
ing social  necessities  and  conveniences,  of  caring  for  the  de- 
p^dent  and  delinquent  dasses,  and  of  providing  for  interest 
and  repayments  on  municipal  debt,  —  that  the  total  annual 
cost  of  these  things  rose  during  this  eight-year  period  from 
over  $334,000,000  to  over  1567,000,000,  or  about  66  per 
cent.    But  this  does  not  teU  the  whole  stoiy.    During  the 
same  period  the  annual  outlay  in  these  same  dties  for 
public  improvements  of  a  permanent  character,  financed 
chiefly  by  the  issue  of  bonds,  increased  from  $128,000,000 
to  about  $266,000,000,  or  more  than  107  per  cent.    The 
interest  and  repayment  charges  on  this  enormous  increase 
are  tore  to  swell  the  annual  budgets  of  the  future.    Popula- 
tion also  grew  rapidly  in  these  cities  between  1902  and 
1910,  but  expenditures  mounted  more  rapidly  still;    per 
capita  payments  for  expenses  and  interest  rose  from  $16.37 
to  $20.53,  those  for  permanoit  improvements  from  $6.13  to 

vXU.aI. 

Since  1910,  moreover,  the  upward  movement  has  pro- 
ceeded apace  with  no  signs  of  slowing  down.  At  present 
New  York  City  has  e3q>enditures  for  govemmmtal  purposes 
alone  approximating  a  quarter  of  a  billion  dollare  per 
year;  in  Chicago  the  amount  is  about  sixty-seven  millions, 
m  Philadelphia  forty-three  millions,  in  Boston  about 
thirty-two  milUons,  and  in  Baltimore  eighteen  miUions. 
Expenditures  for  the  annual  upkeep  of  the  various  dty  de- 

1913?,1m1.°'  **"  ^^^"^  fi'^^ncM  SUHUHu^Cm,,  1910  (WMhiagton. 


DonMflflniH 


WlMNdOW 


456     PBINCr>Iil8  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINIOTRATION 

partments  alone  amount  to  about  124  per  eajrfU  in  New 
York  and  $28  in  Boston;  in  the  smaller  dUes  they  are  lea^ 
In  aU  dtiee  of  over  30,000  population  taken  together  the 
per  capita  current  expenditures  were  $17.32  for  the  year 

1013  * 

Where  does  aU  this  mon«y  go?    It  is  true  that  the  distri- 
bution to  different  purposes  is  not  uniform  in  all  cities ;  but, 
averaging  the  differences,  one  finds  the  figures  about  as  fol- 
lows.   In  an  assumed  per  capita  annual  aq;>enditure  of  $17 
the  largest  item  is  the  cost  of  the  public  schook.    This  aver- 
ages  $5  throughout  all  the  citieis  of  the  country,  or  nearly 
one  third  of  the  entire  cost  of  munidpal  administration. 
Next  comes  interest  on  the  dty  debt,  which  takes  about  $3.60; 
the  police  and  street  departments  require  about  $2  »ch; 
the  fire  and  sanitaiy  departments  about  $1.50  ead^ ;  charities, 
hospitals,  and  correctional  institutions  about  $1  combined; 
while  the  cost  of  general  administration,  recreation,  care  of 
health,  Ubraries,  and  miscellaneous  expenses  make  up  the 
balance.    Let  it  be  cleariy  explained,  however,  that  these 
are  average  figures  for  all  the  important  munidpalitieB  of 
the  United  States ;  in  the  larger  dties  the  per  capita  figures 
are  higher  than  tiiose  just  given,  in  the  small  centres  they 
are  lower."    Nevertheless,  the  foregoing  statement  will  serve 
to  indicate  in  a  general  way  just  where  the  budget  bears  its 
heaviest  burdens  and  what  branches  of  munidpal  adminis- 
tration make  the  heaviest  drain  on  the  dty's  annual  rev- 
enue.   Schools  and  interest  frequentiy  take  half  of  its  en- 
tire  income. 
On  the  passage  of  the  budget  or  appropriation  ordmanee 
ftorJns  out  the  various  dty  dq)artment8,  as  we  have  seen,  are  credited 

themonqr.     ^^  ^  ^^^^  ^^^  ^  ^  ^^^^  y^^  ^j^g^^  ,|„ring  the  yCM. 

The  actual  payment  of  the  money  is  made  by  the  dty  trees- 

>  TheM  flsuiw.  tocether  with  thow  i^vwn  in  tlie  naxt  Pfn|r;*Pl>>  *f* 
td»i  fcoin^ittrftSe  Ceii«».  ."immcicl  SUOUtU,  ^  Citie,,  1918 

« H«n it »  UW.  whieh  giv«t,  for  tli« fw  oitiM  atoMdy  I'ji  ""J^ 
pies  (above,  p.  442),  tba  elMaified  expwditura  for  tha  y«M  1912-18 .  - 


MUNICIPAL  UNANCB 


467 


urer  upon  wwruito  or  orders  JHued  by  the  heuis  of  depart- 
ment* ;  but  before  uy  sueh  warrant  wiU  be  honored  by  the 
trea«irer  it  must,  as  a  rule,  be  approveH  by  one  other  financial 
officer,  the  comptroller  or  audito.  '  many  smaUer  dties 
however,  the  approval  is  given  by  the  mayor.  Before  ap^ 
proving  any  order  for  payment  the  auditor  must  satisfy 
hmiself  of  three  things:  (1)  that  there  is  an  avaiUble  ap^ 
propriation  to  cover  the  item;  (2)  that  the  order  emanates 
from  some  one  authorised  to  issue  orders;  and  (3)  that 
the  services  or  supplies  which  H  calls  for  have  been  ren- 
dered or  delivered,  as  the  case  may  be.  The  fiist  two  points 
he  can  determine  by  reference  to  the  records  which  he  keeps 
m  his  own  office;  to  satisfy  himself  on  the  last  point  he 
usuaUy  requires  that  the  order  for  payment,  when  it  comes 
to  him,  shaU  be  stamped  or  initialed  by  some  one  who  is 
directly  responsible  for  the  supervision  of  labor  or  the  receipt 


DAnm 


(3eiianl  govanuBMit 
Pntfrntim.  to  iMfton  ud 
l*op«r^: 

FbUoe  departiiwnt 

Fin  dqpwtiiHiit     .    . 

Mothar 

Hadth 

Sudtetkra 

Hifhwiq^ 

ChaiitiM,  hovitab.  and 
oomotkm  .... 
EdnoatioB: 

Sehools 

libtariM 

Reoraatkm 

MiaoeOMMooa    .... 

OmmhI 

Pttbli»Mrvioe  eatarpriws : 

Wktarnipply      .    .    . 

AOoUmt 

Intenst  on  d«b(     .    .    . 

Totol       ....   tl^M^OOl 


•  114.682 


158.717 
lfi0.9Bl 
e.888 
38.388 
1M.533 
278.368 

63XW8 

fi06,4S2 

21.041 

23.001 

701 

18.806 

121/180 

8,801 

34A.780 


(VBp.iia.an) 


(Flap.  loa^otQ 


•  74,700 


180.713 
144.406 
17.088 
37.030 
118.008 
187.418 

40aS75 

387.367 
18.086 
60,076 

7381 

101.400 
4.668 

383.686 


$  133.680 


187.331 
146,467 
38.388 
66.386 
310.316 
386.310 


(Piop.«MS.7U) 
•  161M3 


108.638 

06.446 

11.871 

37,603 

138,308 

160337 


70363         14388 


81300310 


660306 

82378 
88307 
373tt 
37336 

116330 

10.604 

644.«» 


700364 
16.400 
44.108 

13330 

180.016 

18388 

8471887 


88366.671  81371378 


458     PRIKCIPLIS  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


The  city 
tTMiunr. 


Thetmi*- 
ferof  ap- 
pr(q>ii»- 
tions. 


of  suppUes.    In  the  Urger  citie§  the  arrangementt  «re  muefa 
more  elaborate.^ 

After  the  warrant  or  order  has  been  approved  by  the 
comptroller  or  auditor  it  goea  to  the  treasurer,  who  iaaufli 
a  check  or  draft  in  payment.  Or,  in  bome  oases,  the  audi- 
tor's warrant  may  be  presented  directly  to  the  bank  where 
dty  funds  are  on  deposit.  The  city  treasurer,  like  the 
other  financial  officers,  is  often  elected  by  popular  vote, 
sometimes  chosen  by  the  city  council,  and  sometimes  ap- 
pointed by  the  mayor.  On  the  whole,  however,  it  seems 
to  be  true  that  hese  officers  are  not  so  {^erally  being 
brought  imder  nayors  control  as  are  the  other  admin- 
istrative offici  >f  the  city.  In  many  parts  of  the  country 
there  still  exists  the  old  partiality  to  popular  dection  for 
short  terms  as  a  supposed  security  against  malversation  on 
the  part  of  financial  officers. 

No  head  of  a  department  may  issue  orders  in  excess  of  his 
appropriation ;  if  he  does,  the  ■  ptroUer  or  auditor  will  not 
approve  them  for  payment.  What  happens,  then,  if  a  de- 
partment exhausts  its  allowance  before  the  end  of  the  finan- 
cial year?  Does  it  stop  paying  its  employees  and  cease 
buying  supplies?  Not  at  all.  Usually  the  budget  makes 
provision  for  a  reserve  fund  to  take  care  of  unexpected  out- 
lays, and  monqr  from  this  reserve  may  be  transferred  to  the 
use  of  any  department.  Such  transfers  usually  require  the 
assent  of  the  mayor  or  the  board  of  estimate  or  t>  ti  ^  . 
mission  or  the  city  council ;  each  city  has  its  own  prriv  ; 
which  may  or  may  not  be  prescribed  by  general  law.  'm 
the  other  hand,  if  any  department  has  a  surplus  ia  view 
toward  the  close  of  the  financial  year,  this  may  be  transferred 
to  the  reserve  fund  and  thus  be  made  available  for  use  by 
less  fortimate  departments.    In  this  way  there  may  be  a 

>  For  a  full  dwoription  of  these  anmncements,  which  ue  miu>h  too 
involved  for  explanation  htm,  yet  ea«y  enough  to  understand  with  a  Httto 
study,  see  the  Manual  opf  Aeeouniing.  Reporting,  and  Butineu  Proetdvn  tf 
th»  CUy  and  County  of  PhOaddpkia,  issued  by  John  M.  Waltcm,  mty  owi- 
troUer  (Philadelphia,  1913). 


MUKT     "\L  FINANOI 


general  evening  up  among  all  the  departments,  ao  that  each 
may  oloae  iti  aceotmts  for  the  year  without  either  defidta  or 
balances  on  haud.  But  if  the  reserve  fund,  evwi  with  its 
additions  from  those  departments  that  have  lived  well 
within  their  appropriations,  should  not  suffice,  what  then? 
Two  or  three  courses  may  be  followed.  One  plan  is  ♦  o  apply 
to  the  appropriating  authorities  for  supplementary  grants, 
which  will  usually  have  to  be  secured  by  temporary  loans,  — 
a  makeshift  that  throws  the  deficit  over  to  the  next  financial 
year.  Another  plan,  which  embodies  a  less  candid  way  of 
doing  the  same  thing,  is  to  postpone  the  presentation  of 
orders  during  the  last  month  or  two  of  the  financial  ywr  and 
let  them  swarm  in  when  the  new  year  opens.  Whm  one 
administration  is  giving  way  to  another  this  plan  is,  unfor- 
tunatdy,  the  one  too  often  followed,  with  the  result  that  the 
new  city  administration  is  likely  to  come  into  office  with  a 
generous  legacy  of  bills,  unpaid  and  overdue.  City  charters 
frequently  make  stringent  provision  against  the  practice  of 
exceeding  departmental  appropriations,  even  to  the  extent 
of  imposing  heavy  penalties  upon  the  head  of  an  offending 
department,  but  usually  not  to  much  avail.* 

It  is  not,  as  a  rule,  that  the  heads  of  departments  inten- 
tionally overspend  their  allowances.    It  would  probably  be  ^"^^ 
fair  to  say  that  ninety-nine  out  of  every  hundred  city  officiab  JJSS?*' 

desire  to  live  within  their  appropriations  and  earnestly  tiy  " 

to  do  so.  Why  do  they  so  often  fail  ?  One  reason  is  that  so 
many  of  them  are  men  of  no  real  business  acumen  or  experi- 
ence. They  have  little  appreciation  of  the  unremitting 
watchfulness  that  is  needed  in  order  to  make  the  accounts 

*i  "^  '!!fj?°*5?^»'ff*«-  '<»  «ample,  providM  m  f oilowi  (aeo. 
tion^) :    'No  dBoud  at  nid  aty,  assept  in  esw  of  atnam  Mncnmoy 

rnvdidnc  the  hedth  or  nfety  of  the  peoide  or  their  pnqterty,  ■hidl  nrnco^ 
mtoitiouUyiii  uiy  ibnal  yeu  Miynim  in  exoenof  thdiq>proiiri»ti(HU  duly 
made  in  aooordMiee  with  Inw,  nor  inydTe  the  eity  in  any  eontiBet  for  the 
™*'"«  P»yn»«nt  o*  numey  in  exoeM  of  nieh  approinriation.  Any  olBeial 
who  Oaa  vicdate  the  i»ovidoBs  of  tfab  section  ahaQ  be  punished  by  im> 
^uonment  tot  not  mne  tiuui  «m  year,  or  Iqr  »  line  of  not  nan  than 
•1000,  at  berth." 


emeedthilr 
sppropria- 


400    PRINCIPUM  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINIVnUTION 

of  even  a  nojiXL  bu8Ui«M  eoneem  eome  out  iquaro  at  the 
end  of  the  year.  They  are  too  prone  to  make  faith  take  the 
place  of  knowledge.  Sometimee,  moreover,  unezpeoted 
burdens  eome  upon  a  department ;  a  suceenion  of  heavy 
■now-fltorms  may  double  t<ie  work  of  the  itreet-eleaning 
division,  or  an  industrial  depression  may  make  unusual 
demands  upon  the  departmmt  of  poor  relief.  But  tiiese 
are  not  the  chief  reasons  why  appropriations  are  so  often 
«(ceeded.  The  practice  of  voting  them  in  lump  sums  rather 
than  in  itemised  form  has  had  a  good  deal  to  do  with  it. 
When  the  head  of  a  department  is  permitted  to  shift  his 
disposable  funds  from  this  purpose  to  that,  from  labor  to 
supplies  or  from  improvements  to  repairs,  he  is  almost  sure 
to  be  caught  with  a  deficit :  the  juggling  process  requires 
more  skill  than  he  can  usually  command.  With  a  segre> 
gated  budget,  on  the  other  hand,  the  danger  of  overspoiding 
is  reduced  to  a  ininin»!im.  Defective  methods  of  municipal 
accounting  have  contributed  further  to  increase  our  annual 
crop  of  department  shortages.  In  many  cities  it  is  practically 
impossible  for  an  official  to  ascertain  with  exactness,  at  any 
time  in  the  year,  just  what  balance  of  his  appropriation 
remains,  a  situation  that  is  due  to  the  unsystematic  methods 
so  commonly  used  in  auditors'  offices  and  to  the  lack  of 
proper  checldng  records  between  these  offices  and  the  various 
city  departments.  Itemised  budgets  and  a  proper  account- 
ing system  would  eliminate  most  of  the  trouble. 


MUNICIPAL  AOCOUNTINa 

Municipal  accounting  has  received  a  great  deal  of  thou|^t- 
^^iira-  fui  attention  from  many  quarters  during  the  last  decade, 
fmmoatit.   and  rightly  so.'    The  accounting  system  of  a  city  may  be 

>  The  movemftnt  for  uuifonn  aeommtiiic  begui  in  the  efforta  o(  the 
Natioiua  MunidiMd  League  about  fiftee.  yean  ago  (aee  tiie  variona  rqwrU 
<tf  its  eimunittee  oa  this  matter  in  its  Proc«t4ing9,  1901,  pp.  34S-263; 
1902.  pp.  202-306 ;  1003,  pp.  247-267 ;  1004.  pp.  191-202 ;  lOOS,  pp.  20&- 
234).    Shortly  thmeaftw  the  United  SUtes  Bureaa  of  the  Cenraa  toned 


mmiciPAL  unanci 


401 


deened  m  the  proeedure  by  which  the  city  pute  all  its  buai- 
ncM  tranMctions  on  record  and  ooOidinatee  the  data  in  thcM 
record*  so  that  thqr  may  be  uMd  inteUifenUy.    Such 
procedure,  if  true  to  ito  puipoM,  iriU  dilTer  ramewhat  from 
city  to  city,  nnce  the  budnew  trauMctiona  of  aU  munid- 
palities  an  not  precisely  aUke;    but  the  variaJon  from 
uniformity  need  not  be  great,  for,  even  if  forma  of  adminia- 
tration  arc  different,  functions  and  general  methods  an 
substantially  the  same  in  all  American  cities  except  the  veiy 
largest  and  the  very  smaUest.    Since,  therefon,  accounting 
depends  on  the  functions  and  methods,  not  on  the  frame- 
work, it  follows  that  a  reaaonable  amount  of  uniformity  in 
municipal  book-keeping  is  entirely  practicable.    That  then  »••«»■ 
an  great  advantages  in  a  uniform  system  is  sufficiently  l~^ 
obvious  from  the  fact  that  it  provides  the  officials  and  voters 
of  one  dty  with  the  means  of  comparing  their  own  »- 
penditures  with  those  of  other  cities.     It  enables  them 
to  ask  why  they  should  pay  a  higher  price  for  any  stated 
service  or  material  than  is  being  paid  in  some  neighboring 
community.    In  order  that  accounting  shall  be  uniform  in 
fact  as  well  as  in  name,  however,  it  is  essential  that  all 
figures  of  cost  be  reduced  to  comparable  units.    No  intelli- 
gent comparison  can  be  made  between  the  actual  cost  of 
wood-block  pavement  in  two  communities,  for  example,  if 
the  accounting  system  of  one  records  the  cost  of  the  blocks 
per  hundred,  ready  to  lay,  and  the  other  gives  the  cost  per 

ieot  WW8  held  unikr  ita  MupioM  in  1903  ud  1900.    The  miaatee  oTtW 

2^Z.^^  f^TJ^  Munidpia  Re««t,h  hSILn  ^viSiTS 
nme  Une  ud  hM Jaraed  muy  pabUeatione.  iaohidiiw  iti  BmMeok  of 

CT^/^^Sf*"  Tt  S^  *^  MaiwhuHU,  (Borton.  1910)TNew 
^*  CSty.  Dep«imeiit  of  Fbunoe.  Manwd  <^  AcamMnf  and  BuhZIm 
Frotedwrt  <^  the  City  4^  Ifv  York  (New  York,  1909) :  lad  N«rYork 
Stat.  ComptjoUer'.  OOee.  A  Um/orm  «y^  StaL^S  S. 
of  the  Second  Clou  (AlbMy,  1912).  ^^       ^finimnnng  jar  (.uim 


463     PBINCIPLU  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


TkaBMd 
for  better 

BHUlieilMl 

•tatiitio. 


■quAre  vMd  after  they  are  metuAlly  put  down  in  the  city 
■treete.  There  is  no  oommunity  th«t  hat  not  aomething  to 
leam  from  it*  mnghbora,  if  it  can  get  the  leMKms  in  under- 
■tandable  form.  In  the  matter  of  buaineii  data,  reotnda, 
f Ad  method!  the  average  American  community  hat  be«i 
living  too  much  unto  itaelf .  Notwithstanding  the  eonaader* 
able  progreia  that  ia  already  being  made,  there  is  need  of 
more  informatory  cooperation  in  this  domain  of  publio  af- 
fairs. 

To  render  the  experience  of  different  eities  comparable 
is  not,  however,  the  only  purpose  of  a  good  accounting 
system.  Quite  as  important,  if  not  evm  more  so,  ia  the 
need  of  accurately  setting  forth,  from  time  to  time,  the 
current  financial  transactions  of  the  dty,  such  as  the 
accrued  revmues  and  the  liabilities  incurred,  the  unit  eorts 
of  work  done  by  the  several  departments  within  the  dty,  and 
many  other  things  which  enAUe  the  department  heads  to 
work  in  better  harmony. 

A  qrstem  of  accounting,  it  should  be  remonbered,  is 
not  in  itself  a  system  of  statistics.  It  is  a  scheme  of  records 
from  which  statistics  may  be  readily  compiled.  Many  dties 
have  had  excdlent  systems  of  accounting,  and  yet  their 
annual  reports  have  been  absolute  wastes  of  dead  matt«r, 
useless  aUke  to  officials  and  to  dtisens.*  This  is  not  because 
the  figures  have  been  inaccurate,  but  because  Uie  reports 
have  been  lacking  in  systematic  arrangement,  crowded  with 
needless  detail,  rarely  summarised,  and  compiled  without 
the  lightest  vestige  of  what  one  may  term  statistical  imagina- 
tion. The  crudity  of  these  annual  reports  is  often  appalling. 
Many  of  them  seem  designed  soldy  to  make  an  expoisive 
printing  contract,  others  to  offer  a  perfunctory  compliance 
with  the  requirements  of  the  city  charter ;  a  very  few  set  out 
to  give  intelligible  information  and  actually  succeed  in 

'  Charies  P.  Oettemy,  "The  Function  of  th®  State  in  rdstim  to  BMit- 
ties  of  Monioipal  Finuoet,"  in  PvbUeotitm  of  the  Amorioui  Ststirtigd 
AMOciation  for  1912. 


'  ♦:    ^. 


!L\ 


MUNiaPAI.  FINANOI 

ryiBgH.  To  tnuMbite  a  hott  of  routine  trtiMMtioai  into 
•  I'fw  Umi  of  gUikHeti  fnoraliMtion,  to  pioture  th«  entiiw 
of  ft  whob  ledgr  in  •  itiiking  MiiM  of  gnphi  or  ourvw, 
to  Mt  forth  the  balance  iheet  of  a  year's  buaiuew  in  terns 
whieh  he  who  rune  may  read  and  underhand,  —  theee  are 
thinp  which  it  takes  both  training  and  imagination  to  do. 
Mere  transcripts  of  figures  from  the  auditor's  books,  when 
mcoiporated  in  annual  reports,  repreeent  only  a  waste  of 
printer's  ink  and  paper.  On  the  other  hand,  there  is  always 
a  danger  that,  in  the  proeees  of  reducing  the  figuree  to  a 
common  denominator  and  giving  an  interi»etatioa  of 
ii  altogether  misleading  impression  may  be  e>  n 
through  a  failun  to  reckon  with  the  practical 
invdved. 

This  i%  paiticubrly  liable  to  Uppen  when  municipal  re- 
ports u>idertake  to  make  eompaiisians  of  cost  per  capita, 
o'P^Mre,  or  per  mile  of  streets,  or  per  thousand  dollars  of 
Msessed  vahiation,  between  dilTerrnt  parts  of  the  dty,  or 
between  dilfemt  cities,  or  even  between  differont  fi«>ti«<B| 
years.    Expenditures  for  the  maintenance  of  public  schools, 
for  example,  when  presented  in  any  such  pradigested  form, 
are  suro  to  be  worthless  if  not  worse.    Obvioudy  it  is  not 
the  aggregate  population  of  a  district,  or  its  area,  or  the 
wealth  of  its  inhabitants  that  determines  the  necessary  cost 
of  public  education ;  it  is  the  num     •  of  chfldren  who  have 
wMhed  and  an  reaching  school  «        And  so  with  other 
branches  of  civic  activity.    Withoat  great  can  in  com- 
piling them,  all  such  condensed  stotistics,  especially  these 
per  capita  tabloi'I>  whieh  i»  .y  one  can  swallow  so  easily, 
ue  apt  to  be  vu.  cable  booinerangs  of  dvic  education. 
Statistics,"  as  eveiy  vendor  of  poUtical  platitudee  delights 
to  assure  us,  "can  prove  anything."    The  real  fact  is  that 
they  always  prove  nothing.    They  are  merely  data,  evidence, 
facts,  to  be  analysed,  judged,  and  balanced  like  any  other 
data  or  evidence,  and  then,  if  necessary,  to  be  ruled  out  of 
court  as  irrelevant  or  unworthy  of  credence.    Yet  there 


464     PRINCIPL18  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

are  vast  masses  of  interesting  evidence  about  the  city's 
business  which  cannot  very  well  be  presented  except  in  statis- 
tical form,  and  the  voters  must  hear  it  either  in  that  fashion 
or  not  at  all.  Efficient  accoimting  and  good  municipal  re- 
porting should  go  together.  The  first  makes  the  second 
possible. 


Munie^Ml 
indebted- 


3.  Munieipal  De6te 

Defective  systems  of  accoimting  and  the  failure  to  inform 
the  people  concerning  the  true  state  of  city  finances  have 
been  in  part  at  least  responsible  for  that  rapid  increase  of 
indebtedness  whiV^  is  to-day  one  of  the  most  discouraging 
features  of  American  municipal  finance.  Things  have 
regularly  been  paid  for  out  of  loans  when  the  voters  took  it 
for  granted  that  they  were  bdng  paid  for  out  of  revenue. 
Indebtedness  is  increasing  more  rapidly  than  revenue  or 
expenditures  or  population  or  assessed  valuation.  It  is  the 
colunm  in  which,  unhappily,  American  cities  have  shown 
the  most  phenomenal  progress.  The  exact  figures  of  munici- 
pal indebtedness  at  the  present  time  are  difficult  to  set  forth 
in  any  brief  way  which  will  not  be  misleading.  This  is 
because  every  lai^  city  has  several  kinds  of  debt.  They 
may  easily  enough  be  all  lumped  together,  reduced  to  a  per 
capita  basis,  and  set  in  a  comparative  table;  but  such  a 
tabulation  would  only  lead  one  astray.  A  distinction  should 
first  be  made  between  ftmded  and  floating  debt,  betweoa 
gross  and  net  debt,  between  debts  owed  by  the  city  itself 
and  those  for  which  the  city  is  partly  liable  becaiue  it  belongs 
to  a  larger  metropolitan  or  sanitary  district,  between  debts 
incurred  for  non-profit-making  purposes  and  those  incident 
to  reproductive  imdertakings  Uke  water-supply  ssrstems  or 
electric-lighting  plants.  A  great  deal  of  misinformation  has 
been  scattered  abroad  because  of  failure  to  make  these  things 
clear.  Critics  of  a  municipal  administration  are  in  the  habit 
of  asserting  glibly  that  the  city  debt  is  so  much,  that  it  r^r^ 


MUNICIPAL  FINANCE 


465 


Bente  an  actual  mortgage  of  so  many  dollare  on  every  thou- 
sand of  property  values,  and  that  it  has  increased  by  such  and 
such  a  figure  dunng  the  year.  The  fact  is  that  these  tip-of- 
th^ngue  statistics  perform  little  service  except  to  bring 
all  statistics  into  disrepute. 

jU  us  b^  with  a  few  definitions,  therefore.    The  fuvded 
debt  of  a  <aty  is  that  part  of  the  entire  indebtedness  which  8<«.     „ 
has  a  number  of  years  to  run,  the  part  that  is  ordinarily  ^^ 
r^resented  by  outstanding  bonds  for  the  amortization  or 
redemption  of  which  at  maturity  some  regular  provision  by 
way  of  amking  funds  or  other  arrangement  has  been  made. 
nteMtmg  debt,  on  the  other  hand,  is  that  part  of  the  city's 
«itiro  mdebtedness  (usuaDy  a  veiy  small  part)  which  has  not 
been  bonded  and  for  which  no  definite  repayment  provision 
has  been  made.    It  includes  such  liabiUties  as  unpaid  judg- 
ments in  suits  against  the  dty,  short-term  notes,  loans  Si 
anticipation  of  next  year's  taxes,  overdrafts,  and  so  on. 

wr'^'t.  °!fu'  r*'**  *"  *^^  "special-assessment 
loans  to  be  repaid  by  betterment  levies  when  they  come  in : 
but  these  hardly  faU  into  either  the  funded  or  the  floating 
categoiy.    The  floating  debt  of  a  city  is  usuaUy  funded  when 

I  *^  i°.\®  ^^  ^°"«^ '  ^^^'  a  considerable  item  in  the 
bonded  debt  of  some  cities  is  the  result  of  this  practice.  A 
defiat  m  one  financial  year  is  carried  over  to  the  next :  the 
ensuing  administration,  after  adding  to  it,  passes  the  floating 
obhgation  to  Its  successor,  untO  by  a  process  of  accretion  it 

r  T?J?  ^f"^  *°  ^  ^*P*  ^°**^8  «^y;  then  it  is 
hqmdated  by  the  issue  of  twenty-year  bonds,  and  the  next 
generation  18  mulcted  for  the  sins  of  the  present.  The  city's 
ffroM  debt  IS  the  sum  of  its  funded  (including  its  special-assess- 
ment)  and  floating  debts.  Its  net  debt  is  this  amount  less 
the  total  amount  of  sinking  funds  already  in  hand  for  the 
amortization  or  redemption  of  the  funded  debt  as  it 
matures.     A  city  not  only  may  have  its  own  debt,  but 

md^i'^vtm.it^  '*  **••  "'"^  **  '^'^  ~  tll8.666.743;   tl« 

3a 


466     PRINCIPLES  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


TbeiMwlof 
essetaeMin 
tenni- 
nologjr. 


at  debt 
ineTMMM. 


BMUof 
emnpuiaon 


may  be  responsible  for  debts  contracted  by  school  districts 
within  its  bounds,  or  for  a  share  in  the  indebtedness 
incurred  by  the  authorities  of  the  county  in  which  it  is 
situated ;  or  it  may  be  saddled  with  a  portion  of  the  debt 
of  a  metropolitan  park  or  a  sanitary  district.* 

In  speaking  of  "the  city's  debt,"  therefore,  it  is  always 
necessary  that  one  shall  first  make  it  clear  whether  this 
phrase  includes  the  entire  gross  debt  or  only  the  net  part  of 
it ;  whether  the  floating  as  well  as  the  funded  debt  is  comr 
prised ;  and  whether  the  reckoning  takes  account  not  merely 
of  the  city's  own  debt  but  also  of  that  for  which  it  is  ulti- 
mately, in  whole  or  in  part,  responsible.    But  whatever  the 
basis  of  figuring  may  be,  municipal  indebtedness  has  been 
increasing  at  an  alarming  rate  during  the  last  quarter  of  a 
century.    In  the  cities,  towns,  and  villages  of  the  United 
States  taken  together  the  net  debt  increased  about  92  per 
cent  during  the  years  1890-1P02,  and  about  114  per  cent  in 
the  period  1902-1913.    It  has  now  reached  the  stupendous 
total  of  nearly  three  billion  dollars.    In  some  states  the  rate 
of  increase  has  been  very  slow,  as,  for  example,  in  Indiana, 
where  mvmicipal  net  indebtedness  increased  only  6  per  cent 
in  the  years  1902-1913 ;  in  others,  as  in  Califomia,  it  in- 
creased nearly  1000  pet  cent  in  the  same  period.'    On  the 
average,   however,   municipal  debts  are  piling  up  more 
rapidly  than  mimicipal  revenue,  and  the  indications  .are  that 
th^  will  keep  on  doing  so  unless  our  methods  of  local 
financing  are  reformed. 

What  has  been  said  in  the  foregoing  paragraph  refers  to 

net  indebtedness.    Comparative  figures  of  gross  debt  serve 

■  no  useful  purpose;   for,  looked  at  as  a  burden  upon  the 

community,  that  part  of  the  gross  debt  whieh  is  offset  by 

>  Out  of  Chioago'a  groaa  debt  of  t95,334355  at  the  doae  of  1918.  anif 
•55.325,533  was  indebtednen  inourrad  by  the  dty  itwif.  'Th»  balaoM 
was  on  behalf  of  the  Sanitary  Distriet  and  other  administrative  awas. 

» Figures  of  gross  and  net  debt,  with  daU  oonoerning  the  rate  of  «*»■ 
inoroasn,  are  pven  in  the  bulletin  entitled  County  and  Mvmeipti  Indm- 
edntu,  issued  by  the  United  Stotes  Bureau  of  the  Census  in  lOlS. 


MUNICIPAL  FINANCE 


467 


smking  funds  is  not  properly  entitled  to  be  caUed  a  debt  at 
■A  Jh^  »^,fe'T  «Pon  which  to  compare  the  relative 
mdebtedness  of  cities  is  therefore  the  net  debt,  funded  and 
floating  incurred  either  by  the  city  itself  or  by  its  subdivi- 
sions    If  this  can  be  reduced  to  terms  of  so  many  dollars 
per.  thousand  of  the  true  market  value  (not  merely  the 
assessed  valuation)  of  real  property  within  the  city,  it  wiU 
be  possible  to  make  a  rough  comparison  between  the  rela- 
tive burdens  laid  upon  different  communities  by  existing 
indebtedness.*    The  figures  wia  not  be  altogether  conclu- 
sive   however,  because  one  city  may  have  incurred  the 
greater  part  of  ite  indebtedness  for  a  productive  undertaking 
hke  a  watewupply  or  a  municipal-lighting  system,  wherea! 
another  has  put  the  borrowed  money  into  things  that  do  not 
yield  imy  financud  return.    NaturaUy,  the  reUtive  burden 
of  indebtedness  depends  to  some  extent  upon  the  question 
aslto  which  of  these  two  poKcies  has  been  the  more  generaBy 

ton  ■rfjKttiwr «t*«!L  ji^^^'i    ^  "  *°*  inowing  made  by  a  btoud  ot 
teiMjtootod  dam,  diff eru«  fa  ri«  and  taken  from  variou.'p.rU  M 


Om 


New  Ywk 
Chicago 
Borton  .    . 
Clevidand 
Loa  Angeles 
Denver 
Atlante 
Cambridge 
Des  Mofaes 
Oalveaton  . 


Nat  Dnc  m  Cahta 

Nat  Dan  mi  | 

OaiS) 

TamBiAL-nn 

•        •        • 

$162.52 

3100.86 

28.02 

23.78 

104.76 

63a» 

76.34 

01.64 

04.44 

60.42 

3.60 

4.43 

39.12 

28.26 

68.61 

77.01 

30.60 

41.80 

100.57 

116.35 

I  91000  or 


!1    » 

!i 


468     PRINCIPLES  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


ConititiH 
tionaland 
•Ututory 
debtlimitt. 


Other  re- 
■triotions 
on  munici- 
pal boRow- 
inc. 


DEBT   UMITS 

In  several  states  there  are  limits,  imposed  by  the  con- 
stitution, upon  the  total  indebtedness  which  a  city  may 
mcur.'    These  limits  are  usually  fixed  in  percentages  of  the 
total  assessed  valuation.    The  cities  of  Indiana,  for  example, 
are  not  permitted  to  incur  indebtedness  to  any  amount 
exceeding  2  per  cent  of  the  assessed  valuation  of  aU  taxable 
property  within  the  munidpaUty.    In  IlUnois  the  limit  is 
6  per  cent,  but  the  legal  requirement  that  property  shall 
be  assessed  at  not  more  than  one  third  of  its  real  value 
should  be  kept  in  mind  as  a  further  restriction.     In  a  few 
states,   as  in  New   York,  the  peicentage  is  expressed  in 
terms  of  real-estate  assessment  only.'    In  some  other  places 
the  basis  18  not  assessed  valuation,  but  annual  income;  no 
city  m  California,  for  instance,  may   incur  indebtedness 
beyond    the    amount   represented    by   an   entire   year's 
revenue.'    Even  when  nothing  is  said  in  the  state  constitu- 
tion about  maximum  municipal  indebtedness,  a  limit  is 
sometimes  fixed  by  state  law.    That  is  the  case  in  Massa- 
chusetts.   But  in  setting  these  limitations  both  the  consti- 
tutions and  the  bws  sometimes  make  provision  that  certain 
forms  of  debt,  such  as  that  incurred  for  the  purchase  or 
construction  or  extension  of  waterworks  and  other  pubKc 
utihties,  shall  not  be  included  within  the  reckoning. 

Many  other  restrictions  on  municipal  borrowing  are  also 
to  be  found  in  the  constitutions  and  general  statutes  of 
the  several  states.  Cities  are  often  forbidden  to  issue 
bonds  for  terms  exceeding  a  fixed  number  of  years.  The 
constitution  of  Pennsylvania  prohibits  the  issue  of  munic- 

f«-'J5^nl!rit*,f!^!!T  °'  .i^ormation  on  municipal  debt  restrictions,  so 
far  as  conafatutional  provisions  are  concerned,  is  Horace  Seorist's  Eeon^ 

St«.  ^"^  (University  of  Wisconsin,  fluita*,,  1914.  H^^!ti^ 
*  The  New  Yck  limit  is  10  per  cent. 

«„„*jl»^,"!?'***i*'i5'?°°^^"'*"'«'  l»owever,tf  two  thirds  of  (hedty'avotn 
consent  to  the  additional  borrowing.  «  "wwigr  •  '»•» 


MUNICIPAL  FINANCI 


460 


ipal  bonds  except  for  tenns  of  thirty  years  or  less;*  the 
general  laws  of  Massachusetts  set  forth  a  scale  of  maximum 
terms  based  upon  the  purpose  for  which  the  borrowing  is 
done.*  In  many  state  constitutions  there  is  a  provision 
requiring  a  referendum  vote  for  aU  municipal  loans  involv- 
ing the  issue  of  long-term  bonds ;  in  a  few  cases  the  consent 
of  two  thirds  of  the  voters  must  be  had  at  the  polls,  but 
more  often  a  majority  of  those  who  possess  a  designated 
property  qualification  is  required. 

The  American  plan  of  restricting  municipal  loans  differs 
entirely  from  that  pursued  by  the  various  countries  of 
Europe.    In  the  United  States  it  has  been  the    -oUcy  to 
express  all  restrictions  broadly  in  the  constitutions  or  the 
general  ]a.^%;    in  other  words,  we  have  tri&d   b^ishitive 
limitation  and  control  of  municipal  borrowings.    European 
countries  have  gone  at  the  matter  in  a  wholly  different  way. 
They  have  put  no  broad  limitations  in  constitutions  or  laws] 
but  have  committed  to  some  administrative  authority  the 
right  to  say  when  a  city  shaU  be  aUowed  to  borrow  and  for 
what  terms.    In  France  thit  discretion  rests  with  the  pre- 
fect, in  Prussia  with  the  authorities  of  the  province,  and  in 
England  with   the  local-government   board.    This  latter 
body,  having  given  a  borough  permission  to  borrow,  fixes 
the  terms  of  the  bonds,  the  amount  of  inte.-est.  and  the 
methods  of  repayment.    Dealing,  aj  it  does,  with  a  great 
many  appUcations  each  year,  it  has  of  course  developed 
some  general  rules  on  these  matters;   but  it  always  gives 
individual  attention  to  special  requests,  even  to  the  extent 
of  making  personal  investigations  on  the  ground.    This 
English  system  of  administratl-e  control  has  a  degree  of 
flexibility  which  is  altogether  hicking  in  the  American  plan 
of  legislative  or  constitutional  limitation. 
'  Artide  jd,  || «,  ?. 

KewfoM,  1913,  oh.  718).  The  maximum  term  <rf  lewer  loMu  to  fixed  tt 
thirty  yewa.  nhooUionae  loans  »t  twenty,  pavement  loans  (exoeot  for  mao- 
Mam  paveniMit)  at  ten,  uid  departmental-equipment  loans  at'flve  yean. 


LecUattT* 
t.  adiiiiiiia. 
trstiTeeaa- 
trot  of  oi^ 
boRowing: 

andAiuiw 
icaa 

method* 
compared. 


470     PRINCIPLES  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINIbTRATION 


Defect!  of 
theAmeri- 


The  chief  and  ineradicable  defect  of  the  American  munic- 
ipal debt-limit  system  is,  indeed,  its  lack  of  dastidty.    It 
gives  too  much  latitude  to  one  dty  and  too  little  to  another. 
When  the  debt  limit  is  fixed  in  terms  of  assessed  values, 
there  is  a  strong  t«nptation  to  keep  raising  assessments  all 
along  the  line  in  order  that  the  dty'e  available  borrowing 
power  may  thereby  be  increased.    In  some  dties  this  limit 
has  been  looked  upon  as  settirg  before  the  munidpality  an 
invitation  to  borrow  up  to  that  point,  and  usually  the  invi- 
tation is  cheeriully  accepted.    Then,  when  emergendes 
arise,  the  mimicipal  authorities  bestir  Uiem-^dves  to  get 
special  exemptions  from  the  general  debt  limit  by  means  of 
amendments  to  the  constitution  or  by  changes  in  the  laws. 
New  York  City  obtained  a  constitutional  amendment  of  this 
sort  in  1909 ;  and  on  two  occadons  within  the  last  five  yean 
Boston  has  secured  by  spedal  statute  an  exemption  from  the 
Massachusetts  municipal  debt  limit.    When  cities   learn 
that  this  power  to  "borrow  outdde  the  debt  limit"  can  be 
had  in  emergencies,  they  come  to  regard  many  things  as 
emergent  matters.'    And  even  when  no  change  can  readily 
be  procured  in  the  constitution  or  the  general  law,  it  is  often 
practicable  to  secure  the  creation  of  a  spedal  district  (like  the 
Chicago  Sanitary  District)  and  V)  endow  this  district  with 
special  borrowing  powers.     AlJiough  constitutional  debt 
limits  are  more  dependable  than  statutory  restrictions,  much 
may  be  said  concerning  the  shortcomings  of  both.    On  the 
other  hand,  the  general  debt  limit  has  its  virtues.    Without 
it,  there  can  be  little  doubt,  many  Amerlzan  dties  would 
have  borrowed  themsdves  into  serious  financial  difficulties, 
as  is  demonstrated  by  the  fact  that  in  spite  of  the  restric- 
tions some  of  them  have  actually  done  so.    But  at  best  the 

>  The  MasaachuaettB  debt  limit  was  esUblished  in  1875.  Between  that 
date  and  1912  no  fewer  than  fifteen  hundred  special  aota  were  pawid  by 
the  MaMaohoaetta  legislature  granting  various  dties  authority  to  "borrow 
monay  outside  the  debt  limit"  for  one  ostemdbly  emergent  reason  <»  aS' 
other.  See  Report  of  th*  Joint  Spteial  CommUtM  on  Mvmieirttl  Fimmet, 
1913  (House  Document,  No.  1803). 


mWICIPAL  VmANd  471 

ffnenl  debt  limit  repnMnts  «  erude  way  of  approach  to 

^e  same  remUf,  «,d  better,  may  be  achieved  by  the  poC 
df  encoura^  dtie.  to  keep  thei.  account,  in  a  uS 
dl^' J^   ^  *^*  P'^"*  °^  **y^  ^''^  rules  ae  to  what  a 

S^^^?^'^**•P*^•  »  cities  were  forced  to  pa^ 
mu^     bonds  more  promptly,  they  would  not  borrow  w 


VUNICIPAL  B0MD8 
When  a  city  borrows  money  by  the  issue  of  bonds  it  may 
o?  wh^r'  1 '""'  "^T    ^*  "^y  i«uo  a  series  of  bonds  I  Mthpd.o* 
tlZt      TT  °'  *^"'"  ^"*  •*  •  ««rtain  date,  t^  SS?«' 

requmxl  to  estabhsh  a  sinking  fund,  and  each  year  to  make '^•'^^ 

to  tvtr^^'r  r  *"?  '^**  '^  ^  amortiTor  Xe 
h  ™*v  f   ^''^.''^JJ^^  f»U  due.    On  the  other  hanS^ 

It  may  issue  »  senes  of  bonds  in  such  a  way  as  to  makeone 
or  more  of  them  mature  in  each  successive'^ear  of^'C 

penod.    For  example.  It  may  borrow  fifty  thousand  doUars 

thrttJ^  "^  *^°^^^  '*"''  ^^^'y  y«"  »»»d  be  paid  from 
the  proceeds  of  taction.  Bonds  of  this  sort  aro  ^nmSy 
c^ed   senal   bonds  as  distinguished   from  sinking-fund 

bet^/wJ!i°^'  *^*  '"^^  P^  "  "°^  "8"ded  as  the 
better,notbecauseitsavesanysubstanluaamountofmoney  Ad^t.,- 
to  the  city   but  because  it  has  other  advantages  »S  ^^^ 
Hmfang^fund  phm  involves  not  only  the  settS^lSe  of»  '^ 


472     PRINCIPLES  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 


much  money  each  year  out  of  the  city's  income,  but  the 
investing  of  these  sums  so  that  the  accumulations  of  interest 
may  be  added  to  the  fund.  For  this  purpose  most  cities 
have  boards  of  trustees  commonly  known  as  the  sinking- 
fund  commissioners,  usually  appointed  by  the  mayors. 
These  trustees  receive  the  annual  contributions  to  the  sink- 
ing funds  and  are  supposed  to  keep  them  well  invested ;  but 
in  practice  the  system  has  not  worked  very  well.  City 
authorities  have  often  failed,  in  one  or  more  years,  to  make 
the  contributions  required,  or  else  have  contributed  less 
than  the  proper  amount.  Not  infrequently  the  sinking- 
fund  trustees  themselves  have  lost  some  of  the  fun'*' 
intrusted  to  them  by  making  poor  investments.  Some* 
times,  too,  men  representing  various  banking  interests 
have  intrigued  to  get  themselves  or  their  friends  appointed 
as  trustees  in  order  that  they  might  divert  the  funds 
for  investment  to  their  own  banks  or  trust  companies.* 
Wrong  computations  as  to  the  amount  of  contributions 
required  each  year  have  also  been  made  with  great  fre- 
quency. Again  and  again  it  has  happened  that  municipal 
authorities,  even  after  preparing  what  they  believed  to 
be  the  most  careful  estimates  and  provisions  for  a  proper 
administration  of  their  sinking  funds,  have  foimd  them- 
selves  face  to  face  with  deficits  when  the  bonds  came  to 
maturity. 

The  serial-bond  plan  does  away  with  all  these  difficul- 
ties and  mishaps.  No  trustees,  no  reinvestments,  and  no 
accumulations  are  necessary ;  there  is  no  financial  patronage 
to  bestow  upon  favored  banks ;  the  city  cannot  omit  a  con- 
tribution for  debt-payment  purposes  in  any  year.    Bonds 

>  In  Boston,  during  the  ten  years  1899-1909,  three  local  flnandal  intti- 
tutioni  holding  about  $350,000  «rf  ■inldng.tund  deponte  failed,  and  in  eadi 
case  one  <rf  the  offioen  of  the  defaulting  inititution  was  a  member  ot  the 
city's  sinking^und  oommiflsion.  Althou^  it  is  true  that  the  DMMjey  was 
finaXtr  paid  back  to  the  city  in  fuU,  the  inhwent  dangers  of  the  ritu*"^ 
are  quite  obvious.  See  Boston  FHnMUM  Comn^saion,  ReporU,  li.  IW 
(1909). 


MUNICIPAL  FINANCI 


473 


wiU  mature  and  they  murt  be  paid  or  defaulted ;  there  can 
be  no  muealoulations.  •"!>«>  bm 

J^'Z  ^  "**!  "^^  important  advantage  in  umng  the 

ployed     There  are  three  option,  in  ««iali««ies     In  the  iSJSL 
firrt  place,  the  bond,  may  be  i«ued  to  faU  due  in  such  way  *?'~^ 
that  the  annua^  payment,  of  principal  shaU  be  equal  througi; 
out  he  entue  loan  period.    Thi.  mean,  that  le  burden^ 

r^  ,  L     ♦1^*''*'  T  ««*^<«»«  with  inte^  to  Z 
paid  upon  them,  and  wffl   then  graduaUy  decreaw  m 

r  -^^L"*!'  •"°*^'*  ^"  ^^^^  -"^^  "  P«i<J  offTd  M 
^e  mterert  charge,  on  outrtanding  bond,  diminidi  pro- 
porUonately.  In  the  «KK,nd  pUce,  the  wrie.  of  anC^ 
matuntxe.  may  be  w  arranged  that  the  aggregate  require- 
ment.  each  year  for  paying  both  prindpiOlSd  inJe^^ 
be«,ual  throughout  the  entire  loan  J^od.  UnJTS 
amoigement  the  burden  will,  a.  under  the  «nking.fund 
plan,  be  equah.ed  throughout.  Or,  in  the  third  pul  the 
»en^  may  be  arranged  arbitrarily  ~  that  i.,  so  a.  to  iake 
no  bond,  mature  at  aU  during  «,me  year,  and  many  of  the,^ 
faU  due  in  othen.    In  mich  ca.e.  the  usual  practice  is  to  ^ 

^ch^*K     '  ^"*??  ?  "^^  ^^'  y^"  °f  *»^«  ^°«»  period. 

r??*t    i***  ""f  ^°^  has  been  uwd  in  variou.  citieT 
♦k!1  J     *?  f  ^'  however,  the  firrt  i.  the  amplert  and 
the  mort  eqmtable.    A  pubUc  improvement,  whether  it  be  a  Th.  b-t 

ders  bert  wrvice  when  it  i.  new ;  it.  UMfulnew  to  the  com- 
mumty  graduaUy  dmiinidies  a.  it  get.  old.  Accordingly, 
Aould  not  the  heaviert  burden,  comiected  with  the  cost  of 

^^v  J  ^""r^*^  *^  conrtniction,  and  the  weight 
graduaUy  diminidi  year  by  year  thereafter?*    To  sprLd 

•«>ov6,  p.  471.  note)  diow.  the  adjurtmente  of  »nni»l  burdeHX  tS 


474     PRINCIPLIS  OF  MUNICIPAL  ADMINMTRATION 

th«  cort  (including  both  payment  of  interert  and  repayment 
of  principal)  over  the  whole  tern  in  equal  annual  mrt^ 
ments  ia  to  diaregard  the  fact  that  the  eervice  rendered  to  the 
taxpayen  by  any  pubUo  improvement  followi  a  eteadily 
de«$endin«  curve.    To  arrange  the  annual  payment*  in 
ittch  way  a*  to  bring  the  peak  of  the  load  upon  th«  l»ter 
yean  if  even  more  unfair.    Thia  if  a  method  of  debt- 
financing  that  fhould  never  be  tolerated  in  any  oommumty. 
It  putf  a  premium  on  ruthlcff  borrowing  by  relieving  thoee 
who  actuaUy  incur  the  debt  from  their  proper  ahare  of 
logical  conBequencee.    It  defeat*  one  of  the  chief  object* 
of  the  aerial  syitem,  which  if  to  graduate  ije  burden  of  a 
loan  according  to  the  benefita  received.    There  are  a  few 
ezceptions,  as  in  the  caae  of  a  pubUc  park,  where  the  value 
of  the  improvement  increaaee  with  age;  but  they  are  not 
of  sufficient  frequency  to  invaUdate  the  general  rule  a* 
above  stated. 

rioUorduul  wdtiM  MfiaUwnd  pliui  t^p^tivdy,  wli«ii  tl»  right  Mrial 
method  is  and :  — 


MMKvtM,  Cow  o»  A  960,000  Tw-TMUi  Loam  a»  4  P«b  Omif 


Vtes 


atmkiit/inHPIm 

(4  pm  «nt  bMis  irHfc  4n«te 
MwdoloMhyMr) 


(lObeadiolWOOOMMk) 


u 

4th 
6tk 
ilh 
7th 
«h 
9th 
10th 
Totia 


t6.7a4.6S 
6,724.66 
6.734.66 
6.724.65 
6.724.6S 
6.724.66 
6.724.66 
6.724.66 
6.724.65 
2.00000 


•62.821.85 


r.000.00 
6300.00 

6.eooi» 

6.400.00 
6.200.00 
6AWj00 
5.800.00 
6.600X» 
6.40O.OO 
5300.00 


S61.000.00 


MtmiOIPAL  PINANOB 


476 


WHT  ouB  onn  amm  so  LAaaa 

Taken  u  m  whole,  the  debt  litiMtlon  in  Amerieui  dties 
if  fwr  from  satiafaotoiy.    The  net  totab  an  too  high  tnd  the  Cmm,^ 
method*  of  borrowing  leare  much  to  be  defied.    Theee  ^^-^^ 
thmgs  are  due  piindpaUy  to  five  oaueee,  which  ihould  be  **S7^ 
aummaiiMd  briefly,  lince  it  i*  only  through  a  elear  reeoc. 
mtion  of  the  eoureee  of  the  trouble  that  adequate  reme^ 
can  be  worked  out. 

In  the  fiwt  place,  the  waeteful  UM  of  municipal  bonmr. 
tog  powers  haa  been  due  to  the  lack  of  effective  rtateregu-  »•  i«*- 
lation,  or,  what  is  practically  the  same  thing,  to  the  policy  IISUmI 

of  trymg  to  regulate  local  borrowing  by  the  broad  and  rigid 
provwons  of  state  constitutions  and  statutes.  We  hvre 
put  confidence  in  general  inhibitions  without  providing 
proper  machmeiy  for  enforcing  them.    Of  what  uhimaS 

avail  IS  It  to  fix  a  maximum  debt  limit  for  cities  if  we  allow 
toem  to  go  on  borrowing  money  for  current  expenses  until 

l^^^V^T*!**^  Necessary  permanent  improvements 
must  be  had  by  large  communities  even  thou^  they  have 
•Iready  borrowed  to  an  assigned  Kmit,  and  neither  sUtutoiy 
nor  constitutional  barriers  can  forever  stand  in  their  way 
If  we  cannot  have  a  system  of  administrative  control  of 
city  borrowmg  such  as  exists  in  England,  we  may  at  any 
rate  endeavor  to  make  legislative  control  effective  by  the 
■pedfic  prohibition  of  wasteful  practices. 

A  second  and  very  widespread  evU  has  been  the  custom 
of  borrowmg  money  for  terms  that  exceed  the  life  of  the  »•  i» 
miprovement  on  which  the  borrowed  funds  aro  spent.    An  SSI. 
asphalt  pavement,  for  example,  wiU  rarely  keep  in  good  £?»^ 
condition  for  more  than  fifteen  years;  yet  in  connection  ^■ 
with  work  of  this  kmd  money  has  often  been  borrowed  for 
a  penod  of  twenty  or  twenty-five  yeara,  with  the  result 
that  the  pavement  has  had  to  be  torn  up  and  replaced 
jeyeral  years  before  it  was  fuUy  paid  for,  a  new  set  of  bonds 
being  issued  for  the  replacement.    The  financial  histoiy  of 


476    PRINCIPLW  OP  MUNICIPAL  ADMINUTRATION 


AoMrieui  cHiet  affords  many  esamplw  oi  this  praetiee. 
A  ftriet  limitation  of  the  maximum  t«nn  for  which  bonda 
may  be  iasued  to  cover  the  eoet  of  any  deaignated  daaa 
of  work  or  outlay  should  be  provided  by  the  laws  of  every 
■Ute;   and,  furthermore,  these  maximum  terms  should 
be  conservative,  —  that  is,  they  should  be  fairly  within  the 
normal  life  of  tiie  improvonent  as  raperience  has  shown  it 
to  be.    It  is  not  a  question  of  how  many  years  the  walls 
(rf  a  schoolhouse  will  remain  standing,  for  example,  but  of 
how  many  years  the  building  may  be  depended  upon  to  serve 
its  purpose  efficiently.    It  will  usually  become  uuo..itaUt 
long  before  it  becomes  phj^cally  decrq[>it. 
In  this  connection  one  should  call  attention  to  the  com- 
fiiw       mon  practice  of  borrowing  monqr  to  pay  for  what  are 
^mSaii    really  current  expenses  although  not  frankly  designated  as 
roreuiNBt    guoii,    1^^  borrowing  power  is  given  to  cities  so  that  they 
may  provide  for  permanent  outlays  of  a  non-recurring 
character  which  will  be  of  service  to  future  taxpayers  and 
ought  to  be  paid  for  in  part  by  them.    When  a  city  spends 
a  million  dollars  on  a  new  city  hall  or  a  new  park  or  a  new 
hospital,  it  is  entirely  proper  that  this  should  be  regarded 
as  a  non-rec\irrent  outlay.    A  municipality  does  not  have 
to  do  such  a  thing  more  than  once  in  a  considerable  period. 
But  in  large  communities  there  are  some  expenditures,  even 
for  thinp  of  a  somewhat  permanent  nature,  which  must  be 
encountered  every  year  without  exception.    When  a  city 
passes  a  certain  point  in  size,  for  instance,  it  must  resurface 
a  portion  of  its  roadways  each  year,  it  must  purchase  some 
new  equipment  for  its  fire-protection  service  annually,  and 
so  on ;  or,  if  it  grows  still  la^ser,  it  may  find  that  it  has  to 
provide  at  least  one  new  schoolhouse  or  police  station  every 
year.    Outlays  for  all  such  things  thus  become  currmt 
expenses,  or  recurrent  expenses  if  one  prefers  to  call  them  so, 
and  ought  to  be  taken  care  of  by  the  annual  income.    Most 
cities,  however,  keep  on  paying  for  them  by  bond  issues, 
until  in  time  they  reach  a  point  at  which  the  interest  charges 


MUNICIPAL  FINiNCI 


m 


•Bd  npftymrato  of  prindpal  amouiit  to  quite  u  mueh  Meh 
rrJ!' '^  V'^\'^*^  *^  W  Vot  ci,  for  the  ^1^ 
topwv«n«,te  in  the  ilm  pUce.  la  other  word.,  Whm 
•  dtuation  in  which  •  dty  my  p^y  .  hundred  thou«S 

on  Mhoolhouee  bond.,  and  then  borrow  •  huiZdX^ 

■jnd  the imme yett to  erect  •  new Mhoottiou*!.    ThiepUn 

of  finMdng  in  •  circle  i.  defenrible  neither  in  theoiy  noVto 
P«cUce ;  but  it  hM  often  been  virtuiUly  forced  ^n  dti^ 

^nt*^  1  •  !!!i"i**^  "^*  "J^"  *^«  «»««»t  that  my 
•nniully  »«  rri«d  by  t«.tion.     The  p.y-ii».you^  poK^ 
in  rdation  tojjjcment  outUy.  i.  the  o^^  prJJSToJT^ 
in  the  fourth  plwe,  our  heavy  municipal  indebtedne«  i. 
due  in  part  to  loo«  method,  of  accounting  and  reporting 
™.T!S  "*««»•»>"««  i^^  which  li.  «,f;^^£  iiisSi 
marked  the  preparation  of  municipal  balance  dieetT  Tax-  ^^SS 
p.yw.  have  been  told,  on  the  one  hand,  that,  rinee  the  dty  ^ 
it  not  a  m^  bunncM  coiporation  and  i.  not  engaged  in  a 

S?  ii     I^**  !■  °'**  **'  P^  «  »*■  "»n«»l  "port..*    Or,  on 

which  hjt.  together  all  «,rt.  of  awet.,  Uquid  and  fixed,  a. 
wdl  a.  thmg.  that  are  not  reaUy  anet.  at  aH.  Any  dty 
can  make  a  bnive  lowing  of  rewurce.  in  excen  of  liabiKtiw 
tf  It  mdude.  m  the  former  column  he  ertimated  value  of 
SinV^f  T?K.°'  "^"^  ^^  •*"**  ipyxrpo^;   wherea.  in 

•^  without  entadmg  larger  payments  to  adjacent  private 
owner,  by  way  of  compensation  than  any  receipt,  which 
the  city  would  reahie  from  «ich«le.  Balance  sheet,  made 
out  unproperiy  are  worse  than  ueeless;  they  mislead  both 
tiie  city  authorities  and  the  taxpayers.  When  proper^ 
drawn  they  should  make  dear  distinction  between  mu^ci- 

mtnulraMon  and  AccounHng  (New  York.  lOOBK^Ir^Isf  ^'^ 


•^  .  Ji 


6.  Too 
much  civie 
optimum. 


478     PRINCIPLBS  01   MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

pal  assets  which  are  salable  (such  as  unrestricted  land) 
and  those  which  are  non-salable  (such  as  the  city's 
streets).  They  should  differentiate  between  productive 
assets  (such  as  a  municipal  market  or  waternjupply  plant) 
and  unproductive  assets  (such  as  parks,  bridges,  and  pubUc 
Ubraries).  Likewise  they  should  make  clear  what  assets 
are  fixed,  that  is  to  say,  tied  up  in  lands  or  buildings,  and 
what  are  current,  that  is,  available  in  cash  or  other  qmckly- 
realizable  resourees. 

Finally,  our  cities  have  been  too  optimistic.    They  have 
discounted  future  growth  too  heavUy,  piling  up  debts  for 
future  generations  without  due  regard  to  the  certainty  that 
every  decade  will  bring  its  own  new  demands  to  be  looked 
after.    True,  cities  must  have  money,  and  borrowing  is 
under  certain  conditions  a  legitimate  way  of  getting  it. 
General  legislative  restrictions,  based  on  the  idea  that  public 
debts  a**  pubUc  evils,  overlook  this  obvious  fact.    That  is 
why  they  have  not  only  faUed  to  prevent  abuses  of  the 
borrowing  power,  but  have  even  hampered  necessary  entei^ 
prises  which  could  be  financed  in  no  other  way  than  upon 
the  city's  credit.    On  the  other  hand,  civic  optimism  should 
not  be  allowed  to  propel  cities  to  the  verge  of  bankruptcy. 
Regulation  there  ought  to  be,  but  let  it  be  flexible  and  not 
rigid.    K  the  debts  of  American  cities  are  to  be  kept  within 
proper  bounds,  this  end  must  be  accomplished  by  a  broad 
programme  which  will  concentn  te  attention  not  only  upon 
the  maximum  ratio  of  borrowed  funds  to  assessed  valuation, 
but  upon  the  specific  purposes  for  which  cities  may  issue 
bonds,  the  term  and  methods  of  borrowing,  the  system 
of  repayment,  upon  the  forms  of  revenue-yielding  city 
property  which  may  fairly  be  regarded  as  an  offset  to 
public  indebtedness,  and  upon  the  details  of  an  accounting 
system  that  will  infbrm  the  taxpayer  fully  and  cleariy  about 
the  annual  burden  which  the  existing  debt  is  putting  upon 
him. 


INDEX 


Aeeonntbg,    mniiidiMl.    7,    400-104; 
■•ncna    sdmiiiiatntion    of,    27;     in 
water  npply,  100-108. 
Adam*.  T.  S.,  "The  Ineome  Tax  ai  a 
Babetitute  for  the  Propwty  Tas  on 
Certain  Forma  of  Peraonaltjr  in  the 
State  of  Wiaoonon,"  427  n. 
Addioks,  W.  R.    St*  Cowdeiy,  E.  O. 
Jbthettcs,  municipal,  Oi-OS. 
Aceneiee  of  dtiaen  information,  10-14. 
Albany,  N.  Y.,  water  filtration  ayetem 

of,  145. 
AIgM,  effeeto  of,  on  water  auppiy,  142. 
Allen,  W.H.    Sai  Sneddon,  D.  8. 
Allen,  Zaehariah,  pioneer  of  fire  pre- 
vention, 31S. 
AlU«>n,  E.  P.,  and  Pniroaa,  Boiea,  Bii- 

Itnt  </  PMlaiUpMa,  200  n. 
Amailean   Pubiio   Health  AaMoiation, 
aumdatd  MModi  M  lltt  BmmintUion 
ot  Waler  and  S0wat$,  143  n. 
Amerioatt    Sdwri   of   Corteqwndenee, 
CyetotnHa   tf  Pin   Pffmtim   and 
/NMranet,  8S4  n. 
Antwerp,  etieet  plane  of,  32. 
A(vn>|wiationa,   munidpal,   for  aefaool 
purpoaea,  391-302.    Sae  aba  Budaete. 
Arehiteetttie,  effeeta  of  etreet  plan  upon, 
M-65;    of  private  property  aa  de- 
tamdaMl  by  dty  ptanning,  03-05. 
Ariatotle,  definition  irf  dty  idanning  by, 

SO. 
Arnold.  Bfon  J.,  ntetmmtmiaHvm  md 
ONMrB<  Flam*  for  a  Compri*«nf^ 
PoMuittr  atAwttn  a^ttmit  for  tif  Ci»t 
at  Chieaoo,  52  n;  Jbperl  on  Me  Xe- 
arranoemtnt  and  Dtflopmma  <if  the 
aitam  BaOrMi  Ttrminah  of  tkt  Citt 
et  C/Ueowe,  52  n. 
UbtSua  leeerroir,  itoraat  o^>a«it)r  of, 

Aairfialt,  uie  of,  for  atnet  paveoMnta, 
107-108. 

AHiaaiiuuta,  of  property,  for  municipal 
taiatlon,  410-423 ;  impiovad  method* 
of,  410-410;  UM  of  mope  in  maUng, 
410-420;  of  buildinga.  420-422;  of 
paraimal  propwty,  433-423.  See  afao 
TrirlilmiM all 


Aaaeawn,aeleetionanddutiaaof.413-415. 
Athena,  dty  planning  in,   31;    atiwt 

plan  of,  75. 
Atlantic  City,  N.  J.,  aewer  franehioa  of. 

208-209. 
Auditor,  funotiona  of,  468-459. 
Auetralia,  dty  replanning  in,  38. 
Ayreo,  Ii.  P.    5w  Oulick,  L.  H. 


Bachman,  F.  P.,  "Attaining  Eflldency 

in  City  School  Syetoma,'*  387  n. 
B«ri»r,  W.  A.,  An  IntMtigatUm  uvm 

(ku  JVtMwr*  CondOien*  in  Me  Bonuah 

tif  MmnhaUan,  235  n. 
Baker,  I.  O.,   Trmitii*  on  Jteodt  and 

Pa—mmtU,  104  n. 
Baker,  M.  N.,  PolabI*  Wattr  and  the 

Melhoda  e/  DtbfeUno  Impuritim.  143  n  ; 

«w>ira»t    and    Sewage    Puri/UxUitm, 

198  n;  JTimieipal  Tear  BotA,  208  n. 
BaUot,  form  of.  in  aehool  deetiona,  304- 

805. 
Ballou,  F.  W.,  Aiipo<n(m«n<  «/  r«ac»«r« 

in  atiee,  875  n,  377  n. 
Baltimore,  repUnning  in,  after  the  fire, 

70-71 ;  lOttreea  of  water  rapiriy  for, 

131;   state  control  of  police  in.  107; 

police    commiadonera   of,    271;     i». 

duction  of  school  board  in,  359. 
Barfow,  J.  E.,  on  methods  of  figuring 

eotta  of  pavements,  100  n. 
Banows.  W.  E..  LJgU,  PAetomdry,  and 

IttumimiHon,  217  n. 
Baakarvfile,  Charlee.  Mttnieipal  Chemti- 

fry,  136  n,  175  n,  170  n.  231  n. 
Batha,  pubUc,  location  of,  02. 
Beard,   Maiy   R.,    IToMen'e   Work  in 

if  WMmpoKlM*,  305  n. 
Bdl,  Loufa,  "Prindplea  and  Dedga  of 

Exterior  Illamination,"  212  n;   The 

AH  of  Ithtmination,  217  n. 
Bemis.  E.  W.,  "The  Ownership,  Cote, 

Ropair,    and    Reading    of    Meters," 

158  n;  "The  Purchase,  Setting,  and 

Testing  of  Watw  Meters,"   108  n; 

JTwiiniMi  MonepdiM,  103  n. 
Bennett.  E.  H.    See  Bumham,  D.  H. 
Bwigum.  Jeremy,  The  AoMsnoi*  ofPu»- 


470 


480 


INDEX 


BerUn.  unoonneeted  raflway  torminaU 
in,  60;  aituatioii  of  puUio  buildinga 
in,  00;  preaent  water  supply  of,  130; 
■ewaae  fanns  of,  202-203 ;  lewwaie 
tax  in,  207-208 ;  police  training  tobool 
in,  288;  rate  of  police  pay  in,  298; 
proUenu  of  police  in,  300-302. 

BertUlon,  Alphonse,  SignoUtie  Jtuirtie- 
Hon,  inebiding  lk»  Theory  ttnd  Praelie* 
of  Antkropomttrie  IdttUifteatioiu,  310  n. 

Betterment*.    Sm  Special  aMeaamenta. 

Bill  boards,  legulatiott  of,  04-06;  taxa- 
tion of,  442-443. 

Bitulithic  pavementa,  108. 

Blooh,  Leopold,  Tk»  Seimtee  of  IBwmina- 
Hon,  217  n. 

Bloomfield,  Meyw,  Tke  Sckooi  and  the 
Start  in  life,  397  n;  VoeaHonal 
Ouidonee  o)  Ymth,  399  n. 

Boarda,  in  control  of  public  works,  77. 
See  aieo  School  adminiatration. 

Bonds,  iaaue  of,  for  water  aupply,  100- 
161 ;  rdsiatry  of,  426 ;  municipal, 
471-476. 

Bonnier,  Louia,  "Notea  on  Oba  Bagula- 
tfona  toveming  the  Planning  and  De- 
igning of  Buildinga  in  Paris,"  64  n. 

Boston,  municipal  depcotmenta  in,  19; 
atreet  plan  of,  36 ;  terminal  problems 
in,  61 ;  park  system  of,  68 ;  organisa- 
tion of  public  worka  department  in, 
77;  area  of  streets  in,  85  n;  use  of 
stone-block  pavement  in,  110;  street 
excavations  in,  114;  brick  sidewalks 
in,  119;  management  of  water-dis- 
tribution service  in,  127;  present 
water  supply  of,  130;  sources  of 
water  supply  for,  131 ;  water  waste 
in,  138;  waste  disposal  in,  170; 
garbage  reduction  in,  181-182 ;  sewer- 
age system  of,  189,  190-191;  atete 
control  of  police  in,  271 ;  police  or- 
ganisation in,  283-286;  examination 
for  police  appointments  in,  286; 
thiee-platoon  i^atem  of  police  used  in, 
296;  pay  of  patrolmen  in,  298; 
selection  of  patrolmen  in,  302 ;  extra 
police  functions  in,  311-^12;  fire 
limits  of,  326;  hii^-preasure  fire- 
protection  service  in,  348;  school 
committee  of,  350 ;  division  of  school 
functions  in,  370-371 ;  school  tax  in, 
390;  collection  of  special  assessments 
in,  438 ;  appropriating  power  in,  446 ; 
old  and  new  methods  of  budget- 
making  in,  460-461. 

Boston  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Street 
Traffic  in  the  City  of  BoeUm,  66  n,  117  n. 


Boston  Finance  Commisston,  organisa- 
tion and  work  of,   10-11;    Beporie, 

98  n,  106  n,  119  n,  160  n,  189  ti,  340  n, 

472  n;  estimate  of  loaaea  oausad  bgr 

atreet  excavationa,  116. 
Boyle,  Jamea  E.,  "Methoda  of  Aaasaa- 

ment  aa  apidied  to  Different  Claassa 

of  Subjecta,"  413  n. 
Brackett,  Dexter,  report  on  water-waata 

prevention,  139. 
Brick  pavements,  106. 
Briggi,  W.  R.,  Modem  American  SchoU 

BuOdinif,  381  n. 
Brightmore,  A.  W.    i8««  Turner,  J.  H.  T. 
Bimtd  irrigation,   aewage  diapoaal  by, 

202-204. 
Brooka,  R.  C,  "The  Sewage  Farma  of 

Berlin,"  203  n. 
Bruce,  W.  O.,  School  Arckileebire,  381  n. 
Brutoe,    Henry,    "Efficiency    in    City 

Government,"  3n;    New  City  Gee- 

emunent,  22  n,  24  n. 
Brunnw,  A.  W.    Set  Bumham,  D.  H. 
Brussels,   land-takings  for   public   im- 
provements in,  93  n. 
Bryan,  W.  B.,  Hittory  ot  the  NaHonal 

Capital,  35  n. 
Bryne,    A.    T.,    Trtatite   on    Highway 

Conttrtidion,  104  n,  177  n. 
Budget  exhibits,  13. 
Budgets,  municipal,  general  methoda  of 

making,    440-MO;     ia    New    York 

a«y,  447-460;    in  Borton,  460-461. 
Buenos  Aires,  replanning  of  atreeta  in, 

38;  taxation  of  bill  boards  in,  443. 
Buffailo,  sourcea  of  water  supply  for, 

131;    reftise-disposal    plant  of,  174; 

sorting  of  rubbish  in,  175. 
Building  lots,  {banning  of,  68-69. 
Buildings,   public,  location  of,   69-03; 

private,  regulating  heights  of,  04r-07 ; 

regulation  in  the  intwest  of  fire  pr»- 

vention,  327-329. 
Bumham,  D.  H.,  and  Bennett,  E.  H., 

Report  on  a  plan  for  San  Franeieco, 

48  n. 
Bumham,  D.  H.,  Carrtre,  J.  W.,  and 

Brunner,  A.  W.,  Report  on  the  Qroup 

Plan  of  the  Public  Buildinge  of  the 

City  of  Cleveland,  60  n. 
Buttrick  *.  Lowell,  ease  of,  208  n. 

Cahalane,  C.  F.,  Poliee  PracHoe  amd  Pro- 

CaUfomia,  municipal  debt  limit  in,  4G8. 

Cambridge,  Mass.,  unaeeepted  streets 
in,  80;  Report  on  a  Comprehentivo 
Plan  for  the  DetAtpment  and  Improte- 


INDEX 


481 


*i  SirMti,  104  n;     monieip*! 
ttmaam  of,  443;  munidpal  npendi- 
tum  of,  467. 
C»n*m^OUo.  wuNM  of  wmter  Mipply 

Cmin,  3.  W.    8m  Bumham.  D.  H. 

C>«nb«rWa.  A.  H.,  OrouHh  of  Ihipon- 
•«**  ofuf  BtdargmtHt  ef  Power  of 
»•  CUy  School  SuporinUndetU,  374  n. 

^uabm  of  oommeree,  work  of,  9-10. 

Chjnodtor,  W.  E.,  Our  Ciiy  SchooU; 

t^Otrtetton  and  Manaoement,  309  n. 

ODartwi,  development  of,  1-2;  lefonn 
of,  16-18. 

CWe  Harvey  8.,  "Depiedatloii  in 
Waterworlu  Acoounta,  witii  ipeeUl 
Merenoe  to  Uniform  Report*,"  161  n 

CWwiO,  terminal  proUwn  of,  61- 
undercround  traffic  lystem  of,  62-63  • 
0£«Mi»atlon  of  street  department  in,' 
77,  aq>lialt  pavements  in,  107;  pres- 
ent water  supply  of.  130;  sources  of 
^^J^Pf^  for.    131;    control  of 

T^it^V^-  "^'  *'««»»  •y'tem 

"•  J*":  OfMnNie  canal  of,  103-194; 
^al  diffloulties  concerning  sewaae- 
^Voml  system  <rf,  106;  state  inter- 
veption  in  municipal  police  of,  267- 
poUce  organintion  in,  280-281 ;  pay 
of  pabolmen  in,  298 ;  annual  fii«  losses 
J*.  316;  school  administration  in, 
«» ;  appointment  of  board  of  educa- 
tion u,  366. 

^'^SSL.^'J^J*'  *^'*<'  Efficiency, 

£beMvM  of  Woior  Pipot  in  th.  City 

o/C*Ma0o,  166n. 
CWcaio  aty  Club,  discussions  on  "The 

Superintendent  of  Streets,"  78  n. 
CWoago    Commercial    Qub,    Plan    of 

Ckxeago,  48  n.  ^ 

Chicago  Sanitary  District,  organisation 

and  work  of,  103-194.         ^^ 
CUWs,  R.  S.,  Short  BoUot  PrineipU,. 

Ondnnati,  filtration  of  water  sun>ly  in, 

rvil^  •  i"***?  P^**  *"»*«^  ^  268. 

City  planning,  in  general,  30-73;  in 
Qreeoe  and  Rmne,  31-32;  in  medi- 
«rja  Europe,  82-33;  in  modem 
itow  and  America.  33-39;  typesof, 
W-ja;  prograas  of,  in  United  States, 
«-46;  imUminaiy  surveys  for,  46- 
*'!«*<»»tton  in,  67-68;  leUtion  of , 
tobuildMg  lots,  68^69;  in  relation  to 
g^te  property,  63-67;  soeioloiy  of. 

Civic  craters.  60-61. 


St 


Ovio  education,  metliods  of,  8-10. 
,  ■wvice,  use  of.  in  sdeetion  of 
plumbing  inqiectors,  139 ;  in  sanitary 
«Jn>Mtment,  173;  in  poUoe  dmart. 
mrat.  286-287;  in  selection  ^ftrel 
mm,  340-341;  in  school  syrtem,  376- 
377. 

Clm^Und,  civic  center  of,  60;  use  of 
brick  pavements  in,  110;  aoureee  of 
wrter  supply  for,  131 ;  water  waste  in, 
138;  municipal  reduction  plant  for 
garbage  disposal  in,  182;  sUte  inter- 
vention in  municipal  police  of.  267; 
■cnool  tax  in,  390;  methods  of  assess- 
mrat  in,  417.  ^^ 

aej^and,  F.  A.,  Chaplor,  on  Municipal 
AOmtm^hratton  and  Aeeimnting,  240  n, 
446  n,  477  n. 
CoUusive   bidding,    97-08;    in   waste- 

ooUection  oontoacts,  173. 
Cologne,  street  layout  in,  32. 
^••"^o    Springs,    experiment   of,    in 

broad  irrigation.  204. 
Colquhoun.  Patrick.  On  iKe  PoUe*  of  tkt 

MttTopolit,  263  n. 
Columbus,  Ohio,  water-softening  in,  141  • 

rapid-filtration  plant  in.  160. 
Commission  government,  origin  and 
wriy  history  of,  2-3 ;  organisation  of 
ojPMtments  under,  19-20;  refaition 
of,  to  sduol  administration,  360; 
method  of  making  approiuiations 
under,  446. 

Commisslona,  in  continl  of  puUic  works. 
77.  ^ 

Commons.  John  R.,  Proportional  Bopro- 
•mteKon,  363  n. 

Compensation,  for  land-takinn  how 
determined,  88-89. 

Comptroller,  functions  of,  468-480, 

Concrete  pavements,  108. 

Con'.t'i-  tation  of  Und  for  public  pur- 
Posso,  87-91.  5e«  afce  Exce«  con- 
demnation. 

Congeetion,  of  traffic  and  its  rdief,  62- 
63;    on  main    thoroughfaiea,    116- 

Conadl,  W.  H.,     Municipal  Hi^way 

OrganiMition,"  77  ».  ^^ 

Consumption,  of  water,  in  European 

cities,  132;  in  American  cities,  133. 
Contact  beds,  use  of,  in  sewerage  tiaat- 

mMt,a00. 
C<mtraete,  for  street  conatruotion,  96- 

101;   in  school  administiation,  369- 

OfOi 

Cwnril.  W.  8.,  HmM  and  Medical  /»- 
tpcetton  of  School  Ckildron,  806  n. 


482 


INDEX 


CostoUo,  A.  E.,  Our  Poliei  P-rettdor», 
266 1». 

Cotton,  F.  A.,  "Tewhew'  «W»ri«i,' 
303  fi. 

Cowdery,  E.  G.,  and  Addioks.  W.  R., 
"The  Manufacture  and  DUtribution 
of  Illuminating  Gas,"  231  n. 

Crawford,  A.  W.,  "Exoeee  Condemna- 
tion and  PuUic  Use,"  93  n. 

Criminal  inveetication,  organiiation  of, 
808-310. 

Cioker,  Edward  F.,  Fir*  Prttmtion, 
341  n.  347  n,  348  ». 

Cioton  aqueduct,  124. 

Cubberle--,  E.  P.,  School  Fundi  md  M<tr 
ApportionmmU,  388  n. 

Curtia,  Heniy  S.,  The  Boorganiaid  School 
Playground,  402  n. 


Dactyloscopy,  use  of,  in  police  departr 

ments,  310. 
Damages,  for  Und-takings.  88-88. 
Dana,    Gorham,    AuUmatie    Sprinkler 

Protection,  362  n. 
Daniels,     F.    E.,     "Sewage    Disposal 

PUnta,"  198  n. 
Davis,  C.  E.,  "Investigation  of  Water 

Waste  in  Memphis,"  139  n. 
Davis,  G.  M.    See  Martin.  F.  E. 
Dawson,  W.  H.,  Jfunietpal  Ootemment 

and  Life  in  Germany,  407  n,  428  n. 
Day,  F.  M.,  "The  Location  of  Public 

Buildingr  in  Parks  and  other  Public 

Open  Spaces,"  S9  n. 
Dajrton,  Ohio,  municipal  revenues  of, 

442 ;  municipal  expenditures  of,  457. 
Death-rates,  relation  of,  to  water  supply, 

143-146. 
Debt  limits,  in  rdation  to  city  planning, 

71-72 ;  in  general,  468-471. 
Debts,  municipal,  464-478;   definitions 

of,  465-467 ;   sUtistics  of,  467 ;   con- 
stitutional and  legal  limitationa  on, 

468-471 ;  causes  of  growth  in,  476-478. 
Delano,  F.  A.,  "Railway  Twminals  in 

their   Rations  to  City   Planning," 

61  n. 
Delaware  Rivnr,  ••  a  source  of  water 

supply,  131. 
Denver,  placing  of  public  buildings  in,  60. 
Departments,    municipal,    organisation 

of,  18-20. 
Depreciation,  in  water-supply  aeeount- 

ing,  161-162. 
Detectives.    See  Criminal  invsatigation. 
Detroit,  use  of  safety  sones  in  streets  of, 

117;    state  intervention   in   munici- 
pal police  of,  267. 


Dillon,  J.  F.,  Law  of  Jf  tmieipal  Cerpero- 
MoiM,  87n,  438  n. 

Dilution,  sewage  disposal  by,  187-108. 

Direct  system,  of  street  oonstruetion.  06- 
101. 

Docks  and  terminals,  in  rdation  to  dty 
plan.  48-61. 

Dowd,  W.  B.,  discussion  of  aondenma- 
tion  proceedings  by,  80  n. 

Drains.    iSss  Sewerage. 

Draper,  A.  S.,  "The  General  Govern- 
ment and  Publie  Education,"  384  n. 

Dresden,  sewage  treatment  in,  188. 

Dressier.  F.  B.,  Amtriean  SchodKouiet, 
380  n,  381  n. 

Duluth,  Minn.,  souroes  of  water  sup^y 
for.  131. 

Dunn,  S.  O.,  "The  Problkm  of  the  Mod- 
em Terminal,"  61  n. 

Dutton,  S.  T.,  and  Snedden,  David,  The 
Adminiilration  of  Pvblie  BdueOtion  in 
the  United  State*,  368  n,  360  n.  372  n, 
387  n. 


Eaton.  D.  B.,  Ootemmenl  of  MunidpaU 
Ms*.  271  n. 

Ed<^,  H.  P.,  "T*u  Relative  EffidaBcy 
of  the  Day  Labor  and  Contract  Sir*- 
tems,"  86  n.  .Se«  also  Metealf. 
Leonard. 

Eddy,  H.  P.,  and  Hastings,  L.  M.. 
Report  on  street  plan  for  Cambridge, 
Mass..  104  n. 

Edson  process,  of  garbage  reduction.  182. 

Efficiency,  in  city  government.  1-8. 

ESectorato.  municipal,  need  of  education 
for,  4-6. 

Eleetoolyaia,  of  water  mains,  166-166. 

Elliott.  E.  C  City  Sduiol  Super*i*ion, 
368  n,  376  ii.  877  n;  Sial*  S<*iool  By*- 
tern*;  a  Summary  of  L*g%^ation,aS6n. 

Eminent  domain,  right  of.  St*  Con- 
demnation of  land. 

Bimniimi'  tanks,  189. 

En^nd,  use  of  refuse  destrueton  to 
develop  steam  power  in,  180-181; 
rules  relating  to  inland  sowags-dis- 
poaal  plante  in,  186;  rsstriotion  of 
municipal  faMiowing  in.  468 ;  Vnak- 
pledge  system  in  eariy  histMy  of,  980- 
261. 

Eriokson.  Halfoid.  "EUetiio  Lifting 
and  Power  Rates,"  227  n. 

Bvaam  Powdl,  Offieial  Reeord  ^  A*  Finl 
Amsriean  Nattonal  Fir*  ProMotion 
CammnHon,  338  n. 

Evening  schools,  system  of,  386. 

I  Excavations,  iu  paved  streets,  113-115. 


INDEX 


483 


EsesM  eondemnation,  01^05. 

EuiM.  nUtion  of  police  to,  260,  SOS- 
SOS. 

Espraditum,  of  poUee  dq>artmedta  in 
J»ri«M  cities  297 ;  for  fin  protwUon, 
3SS-3M ;  munidpiU,  443-464 ;  rapid 
growth  of,  453;  atatictiiM  of ,  4A&-458  • 
relation  of  aecountinc  to,  460-464. 

Ezperte,  uae  of,  in  munidpal  adminia- 
tration,  6-7 ;  limitationa  on  uaa  of,  14. 

Faetoriaa,  fir*  prevention  in,  331. 

Fairiie,  John  A.,  JIfuntciiNii  Admini^n- 
hon,  33£  n;  Loeal  GoMmm«nl  in 
CounttM,  Totnu  and  KOIoeM,  385  n 

•JS^n- 5-.^-  "8«vioe  BeguUtion*  for 
Oaa,"  234  n. 

F«ron.  L.    See  Ray,  A. 

Filtratiott,  of  pubUo  water  aupidiea,  145- 
150. 

Finance,  of  city  planning,  43,  71-73  ■ 
of  atreeta,  110-111;  of  watw-mppbr' 
■yitema,  15»-163;  of  municipal  aani- 
tation,  307-210;  of  pdioe  adminia- 
*S**;?i  W»-2W;  of  fire  proteeUon, 
«3-356;  of  achool  administration, 
3o»-304;  general  aurvey  of,  in  eitiee, 
403-408.  St  aho  Espmdituree,  Bev- 
enue,  Tasation. 

Finpr   i»inta,   identifieatfcm   by.    Sm 

utustylomsopy. 
Fire  preventiim  and  protection,  in  tela- 

^P.«.'?!?'  "">'*'•  ^^'^  «•»«»'. 
314-365;  history  of,  815-316 ;  annual 

Bra  waste  in  Amariea  and  Euz«q>e,  816- 
320;  eauaes  of  firea,  821-834;  laduo- 
tion  of  loaNa,  834-835;  fin  limits,  in 
variouB  Amariean  eitiea,  838-327;  or- 
gMuation  of  fire  brigades,  335-843; 
work  of  the  fire  dmwtment,  843-847 ; 
fire  streams,  tabk  of.  346;  fire-fi^t. 
ing  amUaBOSs,  847-851 ;  use  of  fiie 
boats,  840-850;  fl(»«lana  aystsms. 
350;  private  fire  protectioB,  351-853 ■ 
eoet  irfflre-protaction  sarvioe.  853-855.' 

*»Jjw.  W.  J.,  "London  Water  Supoly. 
(M  and  New,"  124  n.  ^^' 

nagg,  Emaet,  "PubUe  BuikUnci,"  M  n 

n«»w.  Abraham,  PntHttiUam  in  Bui 
rop»,dOin. 

Floy,  Heniy.  RtemU  t/  Me  Cdondo 

»W«JU,  A.  P.,  Wtttr  Supply  MntiHMring. 

*«Wi  F.  L.,  "A  Study  of  gome  Repre- 
ajntotive  European  Ports,"  49 n; 
n$  Qrtmpkm  t  FuUic   B»ildino», 


Foadiok,    Raymond,    JTuropeaii    Peliet 

S?J^'.5*"'  ="•»•   279  n.   289  », 
oU7  n,  310  ». 

France,  law  of  voisinage  in,  318;    n- 

•tootlon  of  municipal  bonoiring  in, 

Franehiaae,  for  water  supply,  168-164; 
for  sewerage  iwvice,  20S-209 ;  taxation 
of,  431-435.  •^.tma.von 

Fi»nWort-on-tho-Main,  soning  system 
in,  06. 

Franlyle^,  system  of,  in  earty  Eng- 
land,  260-261.  ^ 

Frritag,  J.  K.,  Fin  Pretention  and  Pin 
'W'xm.  818  n,  322  n,  330  n,  331  n. 

French.  E.  V.,  "Desirable  Pnesun  at 
Hydranta,"  344  n.  ^^ 

^i^-  ^■^'^^  Administration,  271  », 
2!.*."'    *?*^.*»'».    304  n.    311  »; 


O^veston.  Texas,  beginnings  of  oommis- 
iJonBBvemmrotin.2:  organisatioB  of 
departmento  in.  19-20;  dinioaal  of 
gubage  in.  180.  ^^ 

Oarbage,  definition  of.  169;  collMitioD 
of.  172-173 ;  disposal  of,  170-183. 

Owraaany,  organisatfon  of  city  adminia- 
teative  dapartmenU  in.  26 ;  wide  func- 
tions of  police  in,  299;  method  of 
reonutmg  patrolmen  in.  801-3(»' 
JJtwn  of  poUee  registoatioB  in.  307- 
308;  loeassbyfirs.iBcitiseof,31«. 

O^te.^  Cl«ta  F..  "Thm  Function  of 

ir  ?^*'.*S,"^**«»  *«  Butisties  of 
Municipal  Finanoee,"  462  n. 
Olaagow,    port    dovdopmant    in,    60: 

sUbhsis.  398. 
Ooidsmith,  Clarenee,  "Btasmiabls  S*. 
JPjirwaents     imposed     upon     Water 

Ooodnow,  F.  J.,  lUmdeipii  Ooetmmsni. 
299  n,  305  «.  880  n.  4M»7TK 
PMn  and  AnMrican  viawa  ol  poUoa 
Auetioiia.  806-407.  ^^ 

<3<>odrieh.  W.  F..  tttfim  rftsmi  Md 
Pomer  PrcdwHon,  175  ntjSoSm  Sk 
«fr«ctor  Praelie,,  181  n.     '"^'^ 

Owata-faioek  pavsmente.  104-106. 

°^y?'--^-  °-  "Swwta  aad  Omu- 

Diapoeal  <rf  Sewage,"  186  n. 


484 


INDEX 


St» 


OridiiDn    or    eheekerboud    pton, 

RaetMigulBr  pUn. 
Orit  eluuDben,  198-190. 
OuUok,  L.  H..  tad  Ayrw,  L.  P.,  M*d*eal 

In$f«eUoncifaekocU,  390  n. 


HMTie.   C.   A.,   Pumpitia  Sngin«$  for 

H  at$r  Work*,  153  i>. 
Hiademan.  B.  A.,  "Main  ThoroughfsrM 
Md  Straet  lUawayi."  52  n;    "The 
FUnning   of   City    Stieeta,"    53   n; 
"The   Control   of  Municip*!   Devel- 
opment by  the  Zone  Syitem  and  its 
Apidioation   to  the  United  SUtes," 
66  n. 
Bambiug,    port   development   in,    60; 
filtration  of  puUio  water  mpply  in, 
147-148. 
Hamilton,  Charles  H.,  TrtatUe  on  the 
Ijow  of  ToMUion  by  Special  Amu*- 
inento,  438  n. 
Hanua,  Paul  H.,  School  Bffieieney,  369  n  ; 
Becbminga  in  Industrial  Education, 
397  91. 
Hartford,  Conn.,  first  establishment  of 

plsnninc  board  in,  44. 
Hastings,  L.  M.    Sm  Eddy,  H.  P. 
Hatton,  A.  R.,  "The  Control  of  Police," 

271  n. 
Haussmann,  O.  E.,  reconstruction  of 
Paris  by,  86-37 ;  Mtmoire;  37  n ;  land- 
taking  by,  in  Paris,  93 ;  planning  and 
reconstruction  of  Paris  sewers  by,  114, 
192. 
Haverfield,  F.,  Ancient  Town  PUmning, 

31  n. 
Hayes,  H,  V.,  PtMie  UtaUiu,  Arir  Cotl 

If  eve  and  Depreeiation,  267  n. 
Baaen,  Allen,  CUcm  Water  and  How  to 

Oet  It,  125  n. 
Health  department,  relation  of,  to  sani- 
tation, 171-172. 
Heim,  John  B.,  "  Meter  Rates,"  158  n. 
Htoard,  Robert,  Lee  jardint  el  lee  equaree. 

Sin. 
Henderson,  C.  R.,  Correction  and  Pre- 
tention, 276  n. 
Henry,  Sir  Edward  R.,  Ciatfi/leatton  and 

Vtei  of  Finger  Printe,  310  n. 
Hersi^el,  Clemens,  The  Two  Booka  on 
the  Water  Suppty  of  the  City  of  Rome 
of  Sextut  Julius  Frontinue.  123  n. 
Hervieu,   Jules,   Traitt  prativ**  de  la 

conetruction  des  tgoute,  192  n. 
High-pressure  services,  for  fire  protec- 
tion, 347-348. 
Hill.  J.  W.,  PurifieaHon  of  PMie  Water 
Suppliee,  148  n. 


History,  of  city  pUnning,  SO-W;  of 
stiMts,  76-70:  of  pubUe  water 
sup^,  123-126;  of  sanitation,  167- 
168;  of  pttblie  U^ting.  310-312; 
of  poUee,  360-267 ;  of  flr»iinvMition 
movement,  316-316;  of  pabUe  sdiool 
■yst«n,  386-369. 

Hobhouse,  Houy.    Bee  Wright,  B.  & 

Hoffmann  rule,  417. 

Home  rule,  in  local  taiation.  4SO-481. 

Horn,  P.  W.,  "City  Sehools  under  the 
rnmmissinn  Form  at  City  Qovsm- 
ment,"  360  n. 

Howard,  J.  W.,  "A  Proposed  Standard 
Reooid  of  Street  TrafBo,"  117  n. 

Howerth,  I.  W.,  State  5oai*  of  JRfueo- 
tion.  384  »;  "The  Apporticmment  of 
School  Funds,"  380  n. 

HypochlMitea,  use  of,  in  treating  water 
sividies,  150-151. 


lUinids,  municipal  debt  limit  in,  468. 
ImhoS  tanks,  199. 
Incendiarism,  322-323. 
Indneration,  of  rubbish,  174;    of  gar- 
bage, 180-181. 
Incomes,  taxation  of,  427. 
Indiana,  municipal  debt  limit  in,  468. 
lutangibles,  taxation  of,  422-423. 
Intermittent  sand  filtration,  199-200. 

Jersey  City,  sources  of  water  supply  tat, 

131. 
Johns  HopUaa  University,  Iiseliires  on 

lUtminalint  Bnoineerint,  212  n,  316  n. 

231  n,  233  n. 
Johnson,  O.  A.,  Puri/leatian  of  Public 

Water  Suppliee,  125  n,  132  n,  144  n, 

146  n,  151  n. 
Johnson,  Joseph,  Inesndiaritm  in  Oreater 

New  York,  322  n. 
Jones,  Paul.    See  Page,  W.  H. 
Judson,  W.  P.,  City  Boade  and  Paee- 

menie,  104  n. 
Jury,  awards  by,  in  land-taldng  cases, 

88-89. 

Kansas  aty,  Mo.,  eoUeetion  of  spedsl 

assessmente  in,  438-439. 
Kaiif  mann,  Richard  von.  Die  ffoMtmiMt* 

finaneen,  407  n. 
KeUogg,  Paul  U.,  The  Social  Swrtey,  69  n. 
Kershaw,   O.   B.,   Modem  Uethode  tf 

Sewage  Purification,  198  n. 
King,  C.  L.,  The  Regulation  o/  Munkipai 

UtaUiee,  260  n. 
Kinnictttt.  L.  P.,    Winsiow,  C.-E.  A., 

Pratt,  *'.  W.,  Sewage  Diepoeal.  198  n. 


INDEX 


485 


wmt«r 
l«7- 
)-ai2; 
•ntion 
■dwol 

-«S1. 
et  the 
Dwm* 

ndwd 
t. 

«at  of 

water 


468. 

11,468. 

-300. 

I>lytor, 

«rM  on 
.216  m 

Pubite 
144  M, 

Oraalar 

I  Pom- 
(  eataa, 

qwdal 


V,60ii. 
Ihodi  ^ 

.-E.  A., 
,  198  ». 


L»bor,  pralilHiia  of,  in  moiiieipol  eon- 

•tmetion,  96-101. 
LMHdul,  Bodoifo,  Tk»  lMm»  mmd  B»- 

8m    CoDihmiwttoa    of 


lAwrmw,  HUM.,  Biimlimm  Stetion, 
14S,  IM,  a06. 

LMoh.  P.  R..   "WhKt  an  tha 
Mothoda  of  Ifuniaipal  Pwdiatiitgr 
35  n. 

Laake.  A.  H., /MdiMfrial  MwaMaii,  897  ». 

Laa,  Joaaph.  Piav  <a  MnealMii,  403  a. 

Laa.  W.  L.  M.,  A  Hiltrv  of  PtKet  in 
Bngland,  361  n,  368  i». 

Lammoin-Caniieii.  H.,  fast  Book  m 
Sowogt  Diipooal  in  Ih*  V*itid  Kino- 
dom,  306  m. 

L'Enfant,  P.  C,  plan  for  WaaUagtoii. 
33-8S:  width  of  atiaata  propoaad  bjr, 
80  a. 

Lawia.  N.  P.,  "Tha  CireuUtion  of  Paa- 
aanaara  and  VM^t  in  reUtion  to  tha 
City  Plan,"  63  n;  Strtel  WiM$  awi 
Mmt  SuMMfMM,  88  n. 

Lea  Adidioi,  in  Phwkfort,  66. 

Liceiuiiig,  nUtion  of,  to  peliea  admiaia- 
trstion.  309,  80»-805. 

Liverpool,  poUea  organiaatioB  in,  383. 

Look.  Frai^  Tk*  Bolalion  ^  Fin  In- 
*tmme$  to  Ineeiidiarum,  323  n. 

London,  Wren's  plan  for  leconattuetion 
of,  32-33;  dty  rapianning  in,  38; 
eiroular  treatment  at  atraat  inter- 
aeetiona  in,  41 ;  aRamament  of  tar- 
niinalain,60;  uaa <rf aweai eondwnna- 
tion  in,  94;  tialBa  inyaatigationa  in, 
117  n;  early  watw  aiqiply  of,  124; 
preaant  water  aii|q>ly  of,  130;  early 
■ewen  in,  184;  early  poUoa  arraaia- 
menta  in,  261-363;  metropoUtan 
police  eommlarionw  of,  372;  pcdiee 
training  lehool  in,  288;  pay  of 
metropolitan  eonatablaa  in,  298;  re- 
eruiting  of  eonatablaa  for,  302;  firea 
and  Bre  loaMe  in,  816-817;  early  fire 
brigadea  of,  335;  preaant  fire^mrteo- 
tion  organisation  of,  886. 

I^M  Angdea,  CaL,  ajnitam  <rf  aoning  in, 
67;  water  sapidy  of,  129;  sewage 
disposal  in,  203. 

Looidana,  eantralisation  of  school  oon- 
tRdin,884. 

I«wdl,  Masa.,  aooreaa  of  water  aupply 
for,  181. 

Lowria,  S.  O.,  nu  Buigtt,  447  n. 

Lute,  H.  L.,  "The  8i»iera  System  of 
Baalty  Valuation."  419  n. 


Maeadam  roadwaya,  108-109. 

Madt,  WOMam,  CyelopmHa  of  Imm  mid 

JrTO€tdUf09  88  Ha 

Magsa,  Wmiam  A.,  "Tha  Organiaation 
and  Fonetiona  of  a  City  Planning 
Commisdon."  45  n. 

Manny,  Vnak  A.,  COy  Trtiiriitt  StlmU 
for  TooOmo,  878  n. 

Manufaeturara'  ^iptaisd  Company  of 
Cleveland,  TU  Somon  SytHm  «/ 
Asaav  VdhtoHom,  419  n. 

Martin,  P.  B.,  and  Davia,  O.  M..  Mr*. 
braadf ,  334  tk 

Martin,  O.  H.,  rite  AelNlisfi  </  lite 
ifasMHAiMdto  PrMic  Sduol  Sgolom, 
857  a.  ^^ 

Maasaehuaatta,  dty  planning  boarda  in, 
44;  taking  of  property  for  pubUe 
improvemente  in,  90;  limitetion  of 
special  aassssmante  in,  91;  eseess 
eottdemnation  in,  92  n;  torma  <rf 
paving  bonda  in.  111;  water-supply 
inveatigations  fay  board  of  health  in, 
145;  metropoUtan  sewmaga  lyatam 
of,  190-191 ;  use  of  intermittent  sand 
filters  in,  200;  steto  fire  prevention, 
office  ot,  825-326;  centralisation  of 
school  control  in.  384;  municipal 
b(»n>wingin,460;  practice  of  borrow- 
ing  outaide  the  debt  limit  in,  470. 

Maasadtuaette  Bursau  of  Stetiatics,  A 
Uniform  ClaioifieoHon  of  Munidpal 
Roetipto  and  Pai/monio  prmeribod  for 
tho  Citiol  and  Tomto  of  Manadtuottt; 
461  n. 

Matthews,  Nathan,  Mttnicipal  Charimn, 
17  a,  98  a,  364  a,  410  n,  415  n. 

Maumce  Hiver,  aa  a  source  of  water 
supply,  181. 

Mechanical  Altera,  148-150. 

Memphis,  Tenn.,  sourcss  of  water  masskr 
for,  131. 

Mwehante'  Association  of  Now  YoA 
City,  report  on  Col  of  Condomn&tion 
Prooo9d9nQ$t  89  a. 

Mwo,  E.  B.,  itaMfieaa  PlaHVmiMb. 
402  n. 

Merriam,  C.  E.,  Sopert  on  mt  tntmliQa 
Hon  9f  tin  Botonum  of  CJUmwo, 
443  ». 

Metealf,  Leonard,  "D^Medation  in 
Waterworka  Oporatiaa  and  Account- 
ancy," 161 4». 

MetcdJ.  Le<maid,  and  Eddy,  H.  P.. 
Amerteaa  iSnuaraga  Praetico,  185  a. 
18711. 190  m  1981*. 

Matara,  use  of .  in  watar^upply,  156- 
1S». 


Mia 


486 


INDEX 


MttropoIitM  poUea.  of  Loadoa.  3M- 

365;  of  New  York,  206-M7. 
M«y«r,    F.    A.,    Dot    Wtu^rmrk   dtr 

FrtUn  vmi  Hvntettadt  Hamtfurg,  148  n. 
Milwsukeo.  Wis..  wuroM  ct  wktar  Mipply 

for,  131. 
MiMiMippi  RiTW,  M  •  MHirM  of  water 

■upply,  131. 
MiMouri  t.  IlUnois,  omo  of.  IM. 
MoBfoo,  Paul,  Cudoptdia  of  Bdutution, 

309  n,  378  n. 
MontrMl,  port  development  in,  60. 
Moore,   E.   C,    How   New    York  City 

Adminuttn  U*  SAoeU,  380  n. 
Morrie,  W.  A.,  Th»  FrmkjMg*  Sytltm. 

200  n. 
Mone,  W.  F..  CdUeHen  and  DitpotcU 

a!  MunUipal    WatU,    168  n,    181  n, 

18211. 
Mortgeaee,  tuee  for  recording  426. 
Municipal    Corporation*    Aot    (188S), 

police  provi^na  in,  265. 
Muiddpal  ownenhip,  of  water  lupply  in 

the  United  SUtes,  125-126 ;  of  water 

lerviee,  163-164;    of  tilting  eiiuip- 

ment.  23»-341;    of  gaa  and  eleetrie 

plants,  257-250. 
Munto,  W.  B.,  Ooummmt  aS  Ammieim 

Citif,  15  n;  GoMrnifMni  «^  Buropian 

Citim,  33611. 

Naahville,  Tenn.,  municipal  revenues  of, 
443 ;  municipnl  expenditures  of,  457. 

National  Civic  Federation,  lUport  on 
Munieipai  and  PritaU  OperaUm  of 
PtAUe  UtaiUf,  160  n,  230  n,  250; 
CommiaHon  Btotdaiion  of  PuUU  VlUv- 
««,  252  n. 

National  Education  Association,  Jtsport 
of  the  Commute*  on  Salariea,  Ptntion*. 
and  Ttnur*  v  PMie  School  Taaekm 
in  th»  Unittd  Stale*,  303  n. 

National  Fire  Protection  Association. 
Cod*  of  Sum— ted  Ordinane**  for  Small 
Munieipalitiet,  327  n;  Jisport  of  tke 
Commute*  on  Fir*  Ho**,  345  n. 

National  Municipal  League,  Jfunteipaf 

National  Tax  Association,  ilddfSMSi  and 
Proe**dmg*,  428  n. 

New  Oiioans.  water4oft«iins  in,  141; 
disposal  of  BarbasB  in,  180;  Mperienoe 
of,  with  sewerage  frandkise,  300;  siae 
of  sehoiri  board  in,  360. 

Newspapem,  influenoe  of,  ia  dty  gov- 
ernment, 0. 

New  York  City,  bewming  of  tke  am- 
eieney  movooent  in,  3;   fint  faMdgst 


exhibit  in,  13;  cHy  pUuming  in,  35- 
36;  railroed  terminals  in,  50;  trafle 
diOeultiss  in.  54 ;   valuation  of  land 
used  f or  stieets  in,  75 ;  street  adminia- 
tratioB  in.  77;    width  of  rasidoatial 
strsetsitt.  84;  special  swiswiiinU  in. 
01 »;  SMSSS  eondsnaation  in,  03  n; 
speeM  asssssmente  for  paving  in,  110 ; 
use  of  asphalt  pavements  in,   110; 
iidmlk  widths  ia.  118;  water  supply 
in,    134-135;    water-department  or- 
f,ij»»tUi.  in,  190-137 ;  present  water 
supply  of,   130;    sources  of  water 
su^iy  for,  131;   waste  removal  and 
sewerage  in,  170;    disposal  of  ashes 
in.  174 ;  utilisation  of  refuse  for  fuel 
in,  174-175;  work  of  street  dsaaing 
in,  178;    garbage  reduction  in,  181; 
early  sewers  (rf,  184 ;  sewarag*  systen 
of,  180;    |dan  of  sewags  farms  for, 
203;  heginningi  of  pdice  system  in, 
266-367;     repeal    of    metn^oUtaa 
polkse  statute  in,  368;    civil  service 
tests  in  polioe  d^Mrtment  <rf,  387; 
poUee  training  school  in.  380;   rain- 
statement  (rf  diamissed  patndmen  ia. 
203;    use  of  flve-ptatooa  syalam  ia 
polioe  d^jartoiaat  of,   300;    p«diee 
expenditures  ia,  307 ;  pay  of  patrol- 
nienin,308;  polioe  probioma  of ,  800- 
301;   fira-protootion  service  in,  317 
law  ral^iag  to  fire  asgligence  in,  318 
bureau  of  fire  prevention  in,  S35 
fire   limits   of,   336;    prevwitiott   of 
fires  in   teaMneat  houssa  of,   333; 
office  of  fire  eommissioner  in,  336;  in- 
tonoal  wganisation  of  fire  department 
in,  337-338 :  trainiag  school  lot  fi.vmen 
in,  341 ;  lugib  piessuie  for  fire^protao- 
tion   sMTviee  in,   347-348;    fire-boat 
swvice  in.  350 ;  sise  of  board  of  edu- 
cation in,  350 ;  appointment  of  board 
of  education  in,  366;    minimum  tax 
for  adiool  purposee  in,  300 ;  aystemof 
teedwrs'      pmaions     in,      808-804; 
methods  of  aaasssment  in,  417.  431- 
433;     ^Kwopriating    authority    in. 
445;    methods  of  budgstpmaUng  in. 
447-460;  debt  limit  in.  468;  exassp- 
tion  from  debt  Umit,  460. 

New  Y<Mrk  Bureau  of  Munieipai  Ba- 
ssareh.  11-13;  tUpoH  on  s  <9itr«w 
qf  Ms  rrwwury,  ilMMMNsnl,  Iferis*, 
Fvm,  mi  Priptrlv  Dtprntm*^  «/ 
jTorotUOf  2«>  tt;  ottfMj/  ^  Cwww 
DtpartmmU*  m  St.  UmU,  78  n;  Nmt 
any*  «a  Ik*  Dmilipmtnt  af  •  Bmiftl 
PraeiiHn  fm  dm  Cit$  tl  Nm  Tark, 


INDEX 


4S7 


4ao  »;  Hmtibotk  tf  MwMpai  A»- 

Nktek  PUUii,  n«  Pmm  ^  amkma 

NhriiHUfaw.  o(  MWMi,  soo. 

NoltB.  John.  "Publie  lUerMlioQ  FtMU. 

tiM."    »n;     "StMMiutHMd 

mdtiu,"  8S  M. 
NomtiMittoB,  of  caadidatM  for 

•otfteiMMt,  a84-aM. 

NuiMBOM,  kiMtMIIMt  of,  M-«5,  171 


tnOe  is  oitr  ■It—U, 


OiMtmetioaa,  to 

(Niio,  uoMi  MndHUMtioB   in.    93  n; 

work  of  ■*•!•  boMd  (rf  hMUth  ia.  906. 

OUo  BivOT.  M  *  norM  of  tmtar  Mppiy, 

OUo  Steto  Bowd  of  HmMi.  JbiMH  i^a 
AMv  1/ M«  CoOicMoN  Mrf  iNtiMMl  </ 
Citv  ITMiw  Ml  OMo.  ITS  ». 

Omrt*!,  F.  L.,  Br..  "PubBe  PteiB,"  87  ». 

OtaMtod,  F.  L..  oritietaB  of  Now  York 
■trwtplMi.M;  "ThoTowaFlaiiBinK 
MoTMiiMit  In  AaiMism"  W  »;  "A 
CUjr  FlaaniaK  Pngnm.*'  40  n,  48  ». 
iSM  ofao  ShurtMt.  FUvri. 

ONion,  hoow^ilo  qntam  of  tantion 
iB.4S(M8l. 

?■••.  W.  B..  and  Jodm,  FmiI.  IVmMm 
M^lMi^ruaMoN  ty  Local  M<f 

HntM,"  a»7  «.  -^— . 

Flak,  tte  HMMnuB  nooartroetiaM  of . 
'B~>7;  poor  ■iummiiiii  of  t«tw 
ninnlain,  fiO;  um  of  wntor  tnuwpor- 
tetkm  in.  SO;  ffo««)inc  of  pabiie 
baiMfaiaiin.00;  ardiiteetiiml  iMtrie- 
taoH  OB  prhmto  boikliafli  in.  64; 
luMkUUnci  for  pabUe  imitioywnMtto 
ia.  98  n;  qm  of  Mwm  Cor  MtMurfMo 
ntilitiM  in.  114;  OHly  wntw  loppiy 
<rf.  134;  PTMratwirtarM^iriyof.  ISO; 
dual  vrt«n  of  watar  diMtibutkm  in. 
IM;  MWaiacB  qntem  of.  101-198; 
■ewai*  fama  of.  XQS-a08;  eontroi  of 
poifae  in.  871-873;  poUea  tndning 
adiool  in.  388;  poUeo  pmmIoim  in, 
394;  rata  (rf  poUte  pajr  in.  998; 
annual  kMMa  bur  fin  in.  816;  eontral 
of  flra  bricMit  ia.  SS6. 

Plater.  B.  C.  Ste  «n*  ia  ««  BiUor^ 

PkrUngapaea,  tor  aotoaMbOaa,  la  aitr 
•trooto,  83-84. 


PlHki,  87-88. 

^mOmui.  Cal..  wwagi  turn  of.  908-904. 
PkMHwa.  W.  B..  "Tba  fbo  Boats  of 

AaHiaaaatiM,"SSO«. 
FaviiMBta,  for  tktr  atrMti,  101-110; 

MlatioB  of.  to  itrMt  alMiBlaCi  178- 

179.    iSm  «Im  Btraota. 
FiMi.  air  Bobart.  poUea  nforma  of.  984- 

96q* 
FtaB.  WilUam,  pfam  of  PhflMM^Ua* 

FtBMQrlvaaia.  oOeo  of  In  aaiahal  la. 
835;    BiaalBram  tmi  of 
bomb  la.  468-169. 

FMRM*.  Boisa.    am  ABfaoa.  B.  P. 

FMMioaa,  for  poUea  oOm 
for  taa<dMn.  398-894. 

Fwoolatiagfiltara.  AMflpria'Uaglltiti. 

Pwmita,  for  itnat  anaTatkmt,  114-115. 

Fimy.  C.  A..  Th*  MmtatimuH  t(f  a  Oilu 
MMi.S09»;  WiittVmtf»»atlUtt 
Plma,4Mn. 

PUadaipUs.  Pna'r  piaa  of.  85;  »■ 
■vdMtioa  of  pubUc^mptwrwatata 
dapartmaBtia.77;  aiaa  of  imaU  to. 
85  a;  wa  of  faiiek  for  atrMt  pava- 
BMata  la.  106,  110;  aMurit  pava- 
BMBta  la,  107;  pavinc  atta^Hasat 
with  ■tiwt>car  eompaar  la.  111-113; 
brk*  ridMraUn  ia.  119  n;  wat»- 
fijtratioB  qratam  of.  145.  148;  waato 
diqwaal  la.  170;  Mwwa«a  qratan  of, 
189;  pay  of  patrabaaa  la,  398;  Am 
liailtiof,836;  board  of  pubUe  aduea- 
tloa  la.  859;  Mlaetion  of  board  of 
•dneaticm  br  JudaM  in.  867. 

PtttriMfgh.  naa  of  atoae-blook  pavaaMBt 
ia.  110;  watM>4UtratiQB  nrBttm  of. 
145. 

Pittabnn^  Sorvojr,  Ita  importaaoe.  69. 

PlaoMnant  boraaoa,  890. 

Planning  board*,  in  Amarieaa  eMM, 
48-45;  pwwnnd  of.  170-171.  Sw 
alfo  Catgr  planninc. 

FUtoon  qratoi.  in  poUeo  adadaiitn- 
tioa.  394-396;  In  fbo-proteeliMi  iw 
vieo,  889-840. 

Flajrfronnda.  planaiw  of.  87;  looatioa 
and  adminirtiation  of.  401-403. 

FMb.  C.  C.  "Taxatioa  of  Pnbiie  Sarvieo 
Coqiorataona."  484  a. 

Fligrdd.  A.  C.  "Tha  Somm  Hyit<B>." 
419  a.  -»— . 

Poliea  adauntitratian,  360-818;  Ua- 
toqr  of  pcdiea,  368-366;  to  Aaaiiaa, 
366-367;  stata  poifaa  ooatral.  987- 
378;  oriiBlMHoB  of  poHea,  378-376; 
polio*  nonwniwioaar*.  378-381;  raalc 


488 


INDIX 


•ad  Ife  ol  poUm,  M1-M7:  tnOaing 

■ehgoi*    for,    38»-a90i     pntowtioni 

wd  diMipUM  In,  300-aM;   pUtoona, 

SM-aM:  MptMUtiUM  (or,  3M-3W; 

(umUom    ol,    300:     EttlOpMUl    Mtd 

AoMrieaa  polie*  eompMw'    aOO-SOB; 

datMthr*  MrviM  in,  aO»-«ll ;  tfteUL 

dtttiM.  811-318;    poiiM  eourU.  r»> 

tation  of.  to,  8ia. 
PoU  taxM,  4S6-«a«. 
FotonM  Him,  m  •  mnum  of  wstor 

■uppiy,  181. 
Fouinkaopife,  tint  um  of  ilow  «uid  Ultar 

in.  145. 
Powwt,    LaOrmnd,    "Eiwntiala    of    • 

Good  Budiet  from  the  Viowpoint  of 

Um  BtntirtkiMi,"  440  n. 
Pntt,  P.  W.    Sm  Kinnieutt.  L.  P. 
Pny,  J.  8..  "Survey  for  n  City  Flui." 

4011. 
Plefeientlil  beUot.  uae  of.  in  ediool 

eteetiont,  864-305. 
Piaeoott,  S.  O.,  and  Winalow,  C.-E.  A.. 

summit  ti  WaUr  BatUriotogy,  143  n. 
FreMure.  in  w«ter  mnine.  153;  in  gM 

main*.  234-236.    Sm  oIm  Higii-pree- 

■uie  eervioee. 
Pnunotione.  in  polioe  deportment,  390- 

292;  in  eehoola,  370-378. 
Pnq)er^,  Uuuttion  of,  4a&-437 ;   elMii- 

fteetion  of,  for  taution.  420-427. 
Proportional  repreaentation.  in  ehoioe  of 

ieliool  boarda,  302-303. 
Plovidenae,  R.  I.,  aewage  treatment  in, 

190. 
Pnuaia,  atate  eontrol  of  achoola  in,  383 ; 

reatrietion  of  municipal  borrowing  in. 

400. 
Public  awrvioe  companiea,  taiation  of, 

431-485. 
Purcdl,  F.  X.  A.,  "Purohaainc  (or  Large 

Citiea,"  25  n. 
Purohaaing,  municipal,  24-26. 

Radial  (dan,  of  atraet  layout,  30-41. 
Raikae,  H.  P.,  Smmw*  Ditpotal  Work$, 

185  n. 
Rainey,  H.  E.  C,  "Private  Fire  Proteo- 

tion."  351  n. 
Rainfall,  effect  of,  upon  deaign  of  leirer- 

age  qratem,  188. 
Randolph,  laham,  The  Smntary  DUtriet 

of  Ckicago,  <md  the  Chieaoo  Dnunag* 

Canal,  103  n. 
Recreation,  in  relation  to  dty  planning, 

57-68.    See  alto  Playground*. 
Rectangular  idan,  of  street  layout,  30-41. 
Reduction,  of  garbage,  181-183. 


B^ftiie_  (lolleii)ion  mmI  diipoeal  of,  178- 

170. 
Reporta,  muoieipal,  need  for  impiov*- 

nenta  in,  7. 
Revenue,    munieipal,    406-448;     ekiaf 

Bourea*  of ,  405-430 ;  minor  aoureee  of , 

480-448;   new  loureaa  of ,  443-448. 
Rey,  A.,  and  F4(on.  L.,  JfMotre  4m  eer*e 

die  omiitn*  da  i*  p&bt,  903  m. 
Rieiiardaon.   CUOoid,   ifedim  AapMI 

Ptmmmtte,  107  m. 
RoMnaoB,  C.  M.,  The  tmpnmmmU  at 

Citiee  Md  rewM.  41  «,  00  fi;   IftdM 

tmd  ArrmntemtiU  of  ftniitt.  53  ti,  88  «; 

"The  Boeioloiy  of  •  Street  Layoat," 

841k 
Ronheeter,  N.  Y.,  aouroMi  of  wmtar  map' 

ply  for,  181. 
RnertiHag,  H.  A.,  "Tlio  Bewee  Farma  ol 

BecliB,"  308  N. 
RoUina,  Fhukk.  &*ee(  AdaiMKnrtiMi  In 

jmUM/ifitptu  voMrmiMiiit  o7i  n* 
Rome,  eity  planning  in,  81 ;  road-maldng 

in  aadent,  75;  water  auroly  in,  128; 

aewerage  ayatem  of,  188-184. 
Roeewater,  Vietor,  Special  Aitenmtnte, 

48811. 
B^iMJjili,    eolleetion   and   dtapoaal   of, 

173-170. 
Ruwell,  H.  L.    Set  Tumeauie,  F.  B. 
Ruwell  Sage  Foundation,  ooaduet  of 

Pitteburgh    Survey    by,    00;     WIM 

AmtnetmCitietartdoiiid/erlheHeallk 

at  SeKoU  ChUdren,  300  f». 

St  Louia,  dty  planning  oommiadon  in, 
45;  Mga^aation  of  public  wHto 
d^Mtftment  in,  77 ;  .-.  orvvv-  of  vaiioua 
d^Mutmenta  in,  78  it;  uae  of  fariek  for 
atraet  pavemanta  in,  100;  aidewalk 
widtha  in,  118;  water^aoftening  in, 
141;  pollution  of  water  aupply  of, 
100;  polioe  oommiaaion  in,  271; 
pay  of  patitdmen  in,  208;  eehool 
board  of,  350 ;  atate  police  control  in, 
807. 

St.  Louk,  Civic  League  of,  A  Citt  Pkm 
for  St.  Lome,  48  n. 

St.  Paul,  Minn.,  aoureee  of  water  aupply 
for,  131. 

Safety  aonee,  uee  of,  in  oongaated  atreeta, 
117. 

Balariea,  of  p(4ioe  oiBeera,  208. 

Salt  Lake  Ci^.  eip«imeat  <rf,  in  teiad 
irrigation,  204 ;  municipal  revonuea  of, 
442 ;  municipal  expendituree  of,  457. 

San  Antonio,  Tesaa,  aourcca  of  wnter 
supply  for,  131. 


■OMMiaiiaiifiBe 


INDIX 


480 


opportuaity  for  nptanaias 
ilk  70-71:  orgulMtfcHi  ol  pvMi^ 
imptovMBMto   «to|Mirfwt   in,    77; 

>iad  mImoI  bowd  lib  a87-M8. 

b.^  than.  IM-IM. 

SuiUtiga.  ratotloa  of  mUm  to,  SIO. 
Am  ail*  WMto  dfapoHu,  BtwmM. 

teTUBdh.  Oft.,  nAim  dMlmetor  ia,  174. 

BdMMi  adiyiiittimtioii.  «a6-4(n:  eivu. 
taftthn  of  whool  boMtb,  a6»-86S: 
work  of  odMioi  boaRb.  M»-«7a: 
■opoflatoadoBt  of  mImmIo,  S7>^S7«; 
■ohool  Bianiimiut,  S76-<79;  oelnol- 
lwaMaadoqiiipBiOBt.37»-S8a:  otato 
eoatrol  of  dtr  tahaok,  MS-W7; 
odiooiaaaBe*,S8»-WS:  nMrdHnaadi 
OB  eKir  mImwIo,  a87-M8,  aO»-4(B. 

BAool  boardo,  U»-«r3.  dwaboStato, 
board!  of  odttoatioa. 

BehoolhouMo.  plada«  of,  Sl-aS;  io«». 
ttoa,  eoootriMtkNi,  aad  mainaiinont 
of,  870-M3. 

Sehuyltr,  J.  D.,  Kmtnuin  /Sn-  Wilkr 

Smnki,  in  N. 

BehuylkiU  Rivtr,  aa  a  Morea  of  watw 

mvtky,  181. 
■oMMiiag,  aawaa*  tewitBMBt  by,  198. 
8Mittla,Wadk,di«o«dofgarba|ain.l80. 
Sooriat,  Boraoa,  Jeoiwmw  ^iaatafi*  ti 

Ma   CawiWhiWaaal   HmlrieUtn,    m^m* 

SadiBMatotioB    n^waca  tMatmaat  bgr, 

109. 
Bapoiatodbadsat.    SMBodaM. 
***HgMn,  K.  R.  A.,  Amiw  m  raaatfsa, 

4S4»,4Mm438ti. 
Boptie  tanka,  oia  of ,  in  aawaca  diapoMl. 

199. 
Swial  bonda.  471-478. 
Sowaia.  ddtnitioB  of,  189:  variotiaa  of. 

184;  Tiduine<rf,  188-188;  troatmont 

and  di^toial  of,  194-308. 
SewaiB  fomiB.    Sm  Braad  irrigation. 
Bawaraaa,    167-310;    and  Mwa«a   dia- 

poaal,  188-210;  matariab  mad  in  oon- 

atruetkm  of  aawara,  187-188;   main- 

tonanoa  of,  188-189;  franebiaea  for, 

908-300. 
SbortM,  naval,  and  Obnatad.  F.  L., 

Carryiaf  «nI  M*  CtCy  Ptan,  44  a,  70  n; 

88ii,03a.03n,g4»,  437n,438ii. 
Bhurtliff,  N.  B.,  Aetnit  </  JtfaMaehiK 

MM  Btm,  887  n. 
Sidawalka,  width  of,  83;  planning  and 

oonatniction  <rf,  117-130. 


87  a. 


Hagla  tai.  434. 

BiaUagfuBda,  471-474. 

Bitto,  (^amfflo. />«>  i 

Badtli,  Kdwaid  R., 

and  tha  Ttopographi«4  fnuMAwBuitioii 

of  PiBto  «dar  NapoiaoB  ni,"  87  a. 
Baiith.  W.  S..  "BflMMtey  is  Citr  Pur. 
"Mb. 

ImvM.    «MDattoB,S.T. 
D.8..aadAllMi.W.B.,Maaf 

J^Mfli  aad  Maa(  EgMma,,  m  n, 

889  b. 
ftMial  eaattn.    An  Wfalir  naa  of  lAooi 

plant. 
BoaMogjr,  ia  ralation  to  eity  pfauuiBg. 


W.  D..  "Tha  TraiBe  Caama  aa 

a  naUBiaary  to  Road  ImprovanMBt," 

100  b. 

MBtfaqratam.     ffw  rtiiiiiiiii 

Qaorgi  A.,  ifadm  MtUimU  «/ 
atnH  ClMmiM,  177  a;  A«per<  m  Ma 
MifaMf  of  ammm  and  M«  IVaita- 
l(M  a^  tia  Wttm  aitptig  tt  Ckicato. 
194  b. 
aoureaa,  of  watar  aupply,  181-133. 

Sooth  AaMTiea,  eity-planning  aebMiMa  ia, 
88. 

BfnMaag.W.  P.,  rataoo*  </ Raodk  aad 

Bpaoial  aaMMroanta.  i^tion  of,  to  dty 
planning.  73-78 ;  for  aaw  pavMnanta, 
IIO-IU;  (Miaral  mlaa  ralatiag  to, 
48flr*489« 

SpooiSeatiana,  for  atrtat  ooaatraetion, 
101. 

Split  oontneta,  96-99. 

Sfwinkkr  ayatama,  for  flra  protaotton. 
351-888. 

l^trinUittg  flitara,  fw  aawaga  traatuMat, 
301. 

Staaifbcd.  C.  W.,  lUpcH  mt  M«  Pkytjeaf 
CAaratHrMM  tif  EuroptOH  amptrU. 
49  b. 

Steto,  eontiol  of  munieipal  pcdiea  fay, 
368;  of  dty  aehoob  by,  883-887; 
Mporintandant  «rf  aduoation,  f unotiona 
and  dntiaa  of,  384;  boarda  of  aduoa- 
tion. 384-485. 

Statiatioa,  of  water  oonaumptkm,  138  b, 
136  b;  of  daatha  due  to  typhoid. 
144  b;  of  axpendituiaa  for  laaitation, 
169  b;  of  vtdume  of  aawaga,  186  b; 
(rf  Hitting  castm,  »8b-238b;  of 
monkipal  and  private  eleotrio  pliutta, 
359  b;  of  pdiea  eapenditaiea,  ia 
Boaton,  270  n;  of  ratioa  of  pojioa 
oOoHa  to  population  in  dtiea,  383  b; 


400 


INDIX 


ol  poUm  aspMNUtinw.  W7  «;  of  Am 
loMN.  >lfti»-416ii,  no*;  offli*- 
pri>tMtioBMtls,aMN;  efpuhUaadit- 
mtkm,  S8»-SMi  ol  •riMol  bowdt. 
Ml  m;  of  wImioI  MsmmOi  9n-9U; 
of  BOiddpat  NvwHiM,  40ft  »,  44S  « ; 
of  muoMpal  npMditMfM.  467  ••; 
munMiMd.  Mtd  for  iBpfonoMBt  la. 
4«3-«ft4i  of  doMi,  4«r  ■». 

own*  Ml*  V*t  Pr*i*»  trWf^ff^^^n*  f  ^H*H| 
tftOM. 

BtMlttMtWB,  of  wstar  Mppijr,  1S0-1S3. 
8«OB«^'.odi  pavtBHiit.  104-106. 
Btnyor,  O.  D.,  Mid  Thondilw,  M.  L., 

WiiMifniial  lilWiiifihaHnii  S80  «. 
StTMt  nttimy*,  in  ratotion  to  dtjr  pUn. 

S8-«S:  ifbet  of.  mi  povMBMla,  111- 

ua. 
BUMU.  74-121 :  pUiuiiagof.  43.5S-M: 

•ubtMTMWMi    pUanins    in.    88-A7; 

orgMiiMiUoB  of  dopartmoBt  in  ehws* 

of.  7B-78;    cihwM8>rt<»H  of,  7»-W; 

width  of,  8S:  aiw  of ,  in  VMioiu  eMM, 

85  k;  MNiiikition  of  land  for,  M-OS; 

aiothotl''    of    eonctrueting.    9fr-101; 

IMving  for,  101-110;    ear  tia^a  in. 

lll-llS;   olwuiing  ol,  17«V-17». 
StubtM.  WilUam,  £W«el  CharUn,  301  «. 
Svflraio,  at  ■eho<4  •iMtiMM,  SOt. 
SuporintoncMnt,  of  Mboali,  podtloB  mad 

powwt  of,  S7a-a75.    Sm  aiM  Stato, 

■uporintoDdoat  of  odueatioB. 
Bumf,   tat   a  dty  plan.  45-17;    for 

water  waato,  138.    Sm  afae  Fittabargh 

Survey. 
Swain,  George  F.,  Tht  CoMtnaHon  </ 

IToter  by  Slaragt,  133  n. 
BjmeuM,  N.  Y.,  MmroM  of  watar  mtpfiy 

for,  131. 

Taiation,  in  relation  to  eity  planning, 
7^73 ;  fw  aehool  purpoiee,  SQO-Wl ; 
in  geaeial,  408-436;  of  land  and 
buildings,  408-427 ;  luggeetad  ohangaa 
in,  423-420;  of  unearned  inerement, 
424;  of  intangibiee.436;  of  inoomea, 
427;  of  tradea  and  buaineai,  427-428; 
of  haUtationii,  420;  home  rule  in, 
430-431;  of  public  eerriee  eorpora- 
tiona,  431-435;  of  Ull-boarde.  443- 
443. 

Taaehais,  leleetion  of ,  in  dtiee.  374-S75 : 
k'Jaiie*  and  peaaiotte  of,  308-804; 
pmBotioD  ol.  in  cities.  370-378. 

Telford  paTwnents.  108-100. 

Temperature,  of  water  lupply,  142. 

Tenement  houaee,  fire  iwevention  in, 
331-332. 


Termiaala,  la  wlatton  to  eitjr 

51;  tMeofwatarte,lSft. 
Thaatrae,  ftn-prnwitloa  ia.  8101 
ThondBw.  K.  L.    Am  StraiFW.  O.  D. 
TUmmi.  Q.  Wh  aiml  PmMmmtH  md 

Pmtittt  MttmifA,  101  a,  108  a,  10«  a, 

lis  a.  118  a.  118  a. 
Trade  orgaaiaatioaa.  watk  of,  ia  dvto 

Hapfovemettt.  ^10. 
Tiada  tame,  437-488. 
Traae.lai«latloBtoeH]rpiaa,40;  pfaua- 

alag  for  the  aoeomaMidatioB  of ,  40-57 : 

obetractioaa  to,  ia  eity  ■treeta,  56-86; 

•a  ctetatiag  the  plaa  of  elty  etoeeU, 

7»-80;   MmM,  drtetmlaatlna  of,  for. 

81-84;  ia  etreeta. fafartloa  of.  to  pav- 

ii«  materials  104-110;  ngufaitloa  of. 

oa  pavwl  atTMta.  115-117;   relMloB 

of  poliee  to,  810-811. 
Trai^ag  edioole,  for  poUeo  la  Buropo 

aad  Amefiea.  288-300;   tor  Ciamaa, 

841 ;  for  lieeheii,  878-470. 
Tilekiing  Uteie.    Sm  SprinkUng  ilten. 
Triggi,  H.  I.,  TewM  Pfaaaing,  57  a. 
Turaeanre,  F.  E.,  and  Kuawll,  H.  L., 

I*m6Im  ITalir  auptlim,  133  a,  128  a, 

187  a. 
Tuner.  E.  H..  JtcpayaiMt  a/  L*eal  mid 

•iker  Laane,  471  a. 
Tamer,  J.  H.  T.,  and  Bfii^taMie,  A.  W.. 

WiittfW9nt  sagtaeeftag,  159  a. 
Typhoid,  rriatioa  of  water  luppiy  to, 

143-144 ;  death-iatea  from,  in  CUeago, 

184. 

UnbaUneed  bidding,  08-00.  Sm  abe 
Contraeta. 

Underground  puWfe  eervleee,  56-57. 

United  States  Buivibu  of  the  Census, 
Vnifimit  AeemMH  /br  Sttttmt  tf 
Wattr  Suppfy,  162  a;  Fiaaaeial 
Statiaties  of  Citiss,  207  a.  455  a. 
456  n;  Ottunil  SMMte  </  Citim, 
181  a,  186  a;  Csnirol  MUdrie  MfM 
and  Pdwtr  StetiMM.  318  a.  334  a; 
GwMral  Shelne  IjigU  mid  Ptmer  Aa- 
HoHt,  250  a;  ToaaMea  m>d  Rtmntt 
Sutttmt  </  JMols  md  Local  OoMmmml, 
406  a;  daerifteation  of  munieipal 
leremies  by,  441  n-442  a. 

United  SUtes  Bureau  of  Education, 
Spteial  Ftatmtt  cfCUn  Sehtol  Sttlmm, 
360  a;  functions  <rf,  884. 

United  States  Bureau  of  Pwiign  aad 
Domeette  Commerce.  Atfilp  Ceamlor 
mtd  Trod*  Xtperft,  206  a. 

United  SUtea  Oeologieal  Surngr,  Wottr- 
luppty  and  /rHifaMoa  Poptr,  106  a. 


INDIX 


491 


.^_I71. 

Umrte,  lajriMwi,  Tmm  WiwiiOm  im 

frmUm, »  k,  IS  ».  M  n. 
Upchiwtf.  B..^a(i<i»  ^  IIU  XaywMw  ^ 

U»Mm  L.   D..   Smmh  V  JTwiMyirf 

ffwwiiii  ill  iUifiati,  44S  N. 
ytrnwrtoB,  wMMa  di^MMil  bgr,  174-17fti 

o(  iwlMai,  ISt-lM. 

V«iU«r,  UwMM*.  ••BttOdiiN*  ia  Bate- 
tloB  to  StiMt  mmI  Site,"  M  k;  "Pn>. 
tMtfaw  KMidMtiia  DiMiteta,*'  07  »; 
Mamaimt  Btftrm,  832  m. 

VmIm.  loMrtioa  of  imblte  boBdiiMi  ia. 

aa 

ViMUHk,Hiwtte3routii>.S9:  nnltnriin 
of  itiMta  in.  sr-aS:  poUm  tnioiM 

MOOOI  Uti  3M« 

Vitruviua,  Tk*  Tm  BMfa  V  itfoMlMtMr*, 
S3n. 

.avr- 


48  ti. 
Wado,  H.  T.,  "ModwB  DrralepaiMt  in 

AsMrioan   Motw   Itoa   Apparatat." 

S44n. 
Walton.  John  M..  Jfaatioi  t/AcmmUmt, 


^  CUmmd  Comty  c/  PMaMpMa, 

4S8II. 
Ward.  B.  J.,  nu  SmW  C«ntar.  SM  M. 
WaHMT,  Jf.  O..  IneUmM  n.  them  Com- 

WaAlacton,  D.  C.  L'Bnfent'o  ptea  of, 
a4-«6:  original  otnot  oBoiruoM  in. 
80 n;  prmut  rtnet  area  of,  8S; 
wator4Utntton  syvtmn  of,  145. 

WaMa  JivoHl.  l«7-3ta 

Water  Mppljr,  Urtoiy  of.  1»-1M; 
nanaaMnont  of,  iaS-138:  i—ntlili 
of,  128-181:  WONM  of.  181-132; 
tgnrM  of  ooaMtrnption,  138-136; 
obmont  of  wMto  in.  188-189;  in- 
pioying  the  qiutli^  of,  188-148; 
analjrrii  of,  148-148;  relation  of.  to 
dfaMMo.  143-148:  nwthoda  of  poiify- 
ing.  148-180;  mothodi  of  itorilidnK, 
150-188;  <UiittibtttioB  of.  158-160: 
duHiM  for,  158-150;  pwvonUon  of 
•iMitrolyri*  in.  158;  flnanea  of.  15»- 
163;   aHUtietpal  ownaniliip  of.  163- 


IM; 


of  fai 


i»  to. 


Watak  aaiwilHi.  eoattol  of  poUaa  by. 

In  Baillili  cMm,  878. 
Wobotar.  O,  S..  "■■btowaaoan  Miaat 

WbiawT.  SbbmI.  Jfaiiiefpal  PMt$ 
Wtrkt,  98  a;  a$mtftmU»M  M  Skml 
JbaAMv  ftiniMNM,  101  n;  nport  oa 
■Uaota  and  ■toMi  pavwnMto.  108  a; 
"Hdawalka  in  Boatcw."  119  a. 

Whtepla.  O.  C.  rJU  Vtkt»  tt  fm* 
Wttm,  188  a.  140  a.  148  a;  Jficf*. 
•Mfiraf  JMnMv  ira«fp,  Itt  %.  148  a; 
TnMirtm.  145  a;  "Tlw  Bwadwi 
ing  Mmmo  of  BanHatlon."  188  n; 
"BalatiTo  VahiM  in  gaaitotioa," 
210  a. 

WMtlMkt    R«    a*f     riWIMNMI    §f  rwoH$ 

Widw  OM  of  tha  rriMMl  plHit.  809-401. 
WflMi.  D.  r..  JfanMiMi  /^McMMt, 

908 11,948  a.  384  a,  888  a. 
WlnehaHMT,  Statoto  ol,  981. 
WtMlow,C.-B.A.    AMKfaHiimtt,L.P.. 
Pnoeatt.  8. 0. 

oicMi  eoadManatioB  in.  99  a. 
Raflrood  Crnnmbnion.  Jtcporf 
omUfCMlc/  atrmt  Li^Mitt  in  M'i' 

Wittig.  Paid.  Di$  wJl»mil$  and  4i$ 

ilaififMiHt  SekntBttrkthr,  53  a. 
Wood.  UN  of,  for  atntt  pawaonto, 

108. 
Woods.  A.  B..  "FoUm  pMMUotiona." 

399  a. 
Woraoitor.  Ma«.,  dirpoMi  of  ■wbas* 

in.  170-180;    Mwaar  trMtBMttt  in. 

199. 
Wim,  Mr  Chrl  tophor.  plan  for  irimOd- 

iag  London.  13-88. 
Wright,  S.  8.,  and  Hobhonaa,  Henry. 

Aa  OalHa*  «/  Lteal  OoHrmmmtt  aa4 

407  a. 
WrightiagtM.  E.  N.,  "PrineiplM  and 
Daaign  of  Bitetior  IHnmiaation  bgr 
Gaa,"  383  n;  "Tha  flHding-H«ialo  Oaa 
fVHdiiao,"  250  n. 

Zonaa.  of  aatMjr.     Sm   Salaty    aomo. 

8m  mho  Tntflo  soaaa. 
Zoning,  praetiM  of,  in  fimva,  66-60: 

la  Amwiea,  66-47. 


MMid  ia  tU  CaiM  SUta*  of 


1 

■ 

MiMi 


*HB  Mowing  pages  amtun  ulveiliieiiientt  of 
books  1^  the  sune  author 


1 


BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR 

The  Government  of  American  Gties 

Clitk,h$,U<oe 

"  The  various  topics  are  discussed  with  more  thorough* 
u.  ss  than  in  any  other  work  covering  the  whole  of  this  field ; 
and  the  presentation  throughout  bears  the  stamp  of  tiie 
sdentiiic  observer.  The  author's  scientific  discussion  is 
not  cumbered  with  statistics  or  technical  terms ;  but  is  pre- 
sented with  the  clear  and  dignified  diction  of  the  modem 
Harvard  school  of  English."  —  Natumal Munieipal  Rtvirw. 

"A  book  which  will  serv^f  excellently  as  an  introductory 
study  for  the  serious  student'  —LUercaj  Digtst. 

"  It  brings  many  of  the  later  data  together  in  convenient 
and  readable  form,  interprets  and  weighs  these  data,  and 
draws  from  them  many  valuable  deductions." 

—  Bugmttrii^  News. 

"The  treatment  is  wholly  satisfactory.  There  is  no 
erudite  theorizing,  no  philosophical  p&dding,  but  a  practi- 
cal statement,  lucid,  direct,  sfanple  and  candid,  of  the 
machinery  at  present  employed  in  conducting  the  affairs 
of  the  municipality." 

—Amtriean  Political  Seieme  Rtviiw. 


THE   MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

fMUhm  M-M  Itflk  Atwm  Vnr  T«k 


BY  THB  SAMB  AUTHOR 

The  Government  of  American  Gtiet 

(CoMtinued) 

In  an  age  when  men  appear  far  too  ready  to  proceed 
with  a  diagnosis  and  to  prescribe  remedies  without  much 
preliminary  stiidy  of  the  anatomy  and  the  physiology  of 
city  government,  too  much  stress  upon  the  importance  of 
the  latter  branches  of  the  subject  can  scarcely  be  laid.  At 
any  rate  we  have  heard  so  much  in  recent  yevs  concern- 
ing what  the  government  of  American  cities  ought  to  be 
that  an  apology  is  hardly  necessary  for  the  emphasis  which 
this  volume  places  upon  what  their  government  really  is. 

The  book  deals  with  government  rather  than  with  ad- 
ministration, with  the  framework  rather  than  with  the 
functioning  mechanism  of  the  municipal  organization. 

The  author  discusses  in  his  later  chapters  those  phases 
of  city  government  which  at  the  present  moment  are  arous* 
ing  the  liveliest  interest  among  all  good  citizens,  with  the 
desire  and  expectation  that  the  resulting  criticisms,  both 
favorable  and  unfavorable,  of  his  views  will  result  in  awak- 
ening  those  citizens  who  earnestly  desire  civic  betterment 
to  a  realization  of  the  necessity  for  a  well-organized  con- 
centration of  effort,  backed  by  a  serious  study  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  municipal  government. 

"The  Government  of  American  Cities"  provides  an 
introduction  to  the  study  of  a  very  large  and  important 
subject.  For  use  in  a  college  course  in  municipal  govern- 
ment, "  Principles  and  Methods  of  Municipal  Administra- 
tion "  is  an  excellent  book  for  supplementary  reading,  as 
is  also  "The  Government  of  European  Cities,"  by  the 
same  author. 

THE   MACMILLAN    COMPANY 

PaUiiiMn  «t-M  riMi  Atvom  HtwToik 


MHII 


BY  THE  SAME  AUTBOK 

The  Government  <A  European  Qties 

CMk,  8v0,  UjOO 
«The  book  giva  a  detailed  accaoat  of  the  way  in  wliicli  municipal 
goverament  it  formed  and  canted  on  in  France,  Germany,  and  Eng- 
land. The  style  ia  dear,  atiaii^tfcrwaid,  and  unpretentioiu,  and  the 
treatment  ia  steadily  confined  to  the  subject  in  hand  without  any  at- 
tempt to  point  a  moral  or  aid  a  cause.  The  writing,  while  succinct,  is 
copious  in  detail,  and  only  administrative  experts  in  the  countries  re 
specdvely  considered  could  check  off  all  the  statemento  made;  but  the 
worli  itsdf  affords  intrinsic  evidence  of  its  painstaking  accuracy." 

—  TktNtaiom. 
"On  the  whole  the  most  oomprrihensive,  accurate,  painstaking  and 
thorough  work  which  has  been  done  in  the  English  language  on  the  sub- 
jectt  which  are  treated.  The  objcctiveneas  of  the  treatment  and  the  co- 
pious references  to  the  sources  df  his  information  give  what  Dr.  Munro 
has  done  an  authoritativeness  as  to  descriptive  details  whidi  no  other 
book  on  the  subject  possesses." 

—  Frank  J.  Goodnow  in  Pttlitkal Sciiut  QHorttrfy. 
"The  work  asa  whde  reflects  the  greatest  credit  upon  the  authcnr. 
For  thoroughness,  frimess,  sci^>e,  and  breadth  of  treatment  it  leaves 
nothing  to  be  desired.  It  is  conceived  in  the  scientific  spirit,  and  aims 
to  present  focts  accurately  and  to  indicate  their  possible  bearings ;  but 
it  betrays  no  partisan  spirit,  and  is  not  given  to  preaching  or  the  further- 
ance of  a  cause.  It  will  rank  as  a  standard  work,  embodying  the  best 
scholanhip  of  our  day."— Atar  York  DrOutu. 

"  Das  Buch  von  Professor  Munro  ist  im  wesentlichen  beschreibender 
Natur ;  die  Kritik  tritt  in  ihm  staric  surUdi.  Man  mokt  der  Darstdhug 
an,  das  der  Ver£user  sich  sehr  dngehend  mit  dem  Gegenstand  vertrant 
gemadit  hat  und  so  ist  ihm  in  der  Tat  die  sehr  schwere  Aufgabe  ge- 
lungen,  selbst  vra  den  verwickdten  VerhiOtniseen  der  jaeussisdien 
Stiidteverwaltung  dn  klares  Bild  ni  entwerfen." 

— XtmmmiuUtm  Prtucis  (Beriin). 
«  A  sooad  cootribodon  to  the  study  of  kxd  government." 

—  Local  GovtmmtHt  Rtvitm  (London). 


THE   MACMILLAN   COMPANY 


M-MIttlkA^ 


V«vT«* 


n  TBE  SAME  AVTEOM 


A  Bibliography  of  Municipal  Govenunent 


Hanrwd  Uahrmiljr  Fnm,  1915 


tti^tHt 


A  classified  bibUognphy  of  four  hundred  and  seventy* 
two  pages  containing  references  to  the  most  useful  mate- 
rials on  every  phase  of  American  city  government  and 
administration. 

Preference  is  given  to  publications  <rf  recent  date  and 
critical  notes  are  appended  to  a  great  many  of  the  reftf- 
ences.  The  Bibli<^raphy  includes  lists  of  data  on  city 
government  not  only  in  books  and  review  articles,  but  fai 
charters,  ordinances,  official  reports,  and  in  the  publica- 
tions  of  various  professional  bodies.  It  is  provided  with 
an  author-and-subject  index  which  enables  everything  to 
be  readily  found. 

Among  die  manjr  topict  indnded  are  die  foOowlBg:  mnakipal  hiMotr  ud  rti* 
IbtiGS,  municipal  portie*  and  poUtiet,  noninaiioM.  elcctiona  and  ballot  reform, 
initiative,  Kferendom  and  lacall,  prapottlonal  repnamtatiaa,  law  of  mnaicipat 
corporations,  home  rule,  dty  and  oonatf ,  tite  mayor,  the  dtjr  ooonctl,  cowmiiaton 
government,  city  manager  j^,  civil  lervioe  reform,  pension  qrtiems.  diy  planning 
and  municipal  art,  land  taking*  for  poldic  fanprovementt,  eaoeM  condemnation, 
public  worin,  streets  and  sidewalks,  parks,  bridges,  docks  and  haibots,  wtter  sup- 
ply, lifting,  tranxportatioa,  franchises,  pdftUc  service  corporations,  mnnidpat 
owneiship,  waste  disposal,  sewerage  and  sanitation,  pnbUc  health  and  hygiena, 
hospitals,  oongettion  of  population,  honaiiv  reform,  street  deaniag,  snow  laatovat 
and  dust  prevention,  cemeteries,  municipal  markets  and  abattoirs,  smote  abata- 
mcnt,  bakeries,  police  administatfam,  courts,  crime  and  correction,  the  liquor 
problem,  the  social  evQ,  fire  prevention  and  protection,  building  laws  and  regula- 
tioM,  sdMMd  administration,  poor  leHaf  and  chiU  weUue,  sodal  engineering  mtA 
ne^borhood  work,  social  surveys,  free  employment  agencies  and  placement 
bmeaus,  municipal  theatres,  censorship  of  amoKments,  billboard  rsgutation,  bu- 
reaus of  municipal  research,  agencies  of  instruction  in  munidpd  guveiiunani,  ge»- 
ersl  problems  of  mtrnk^  finance,  assessments,  special  aiiwiminli,  laMloB, 
accounting,  budget-making  and  apeiMUtnres,  etly  ddMi,  cle. 

As  a  manual  for  use  in  reference  libraries  and  as  a  work* 
ing  tool  for  teachers  or  students  of  municipal  government 
the  volume  is  invaluable. 


HARVARD   m   VERSITY  PRESS 

OHateia««, 


mmtm 


^mik 


